Fossil Ivory Collar

A couple of years ago we chanced upon a few chunks of fossilised mammoth ivory which had been unearthed due to the Siberian permafrost thaw.  The three main pieces were unusually grained and textured by the aeons to look a little like porcelain decorated with Chinese ink!

Katia pounced on these pieces and, after several months of thought, came up with designs within which to best use them.   All were mounted in (real) hilltribe silver sourced in the Golden Triangle area of Thailand, Laos and Burma.  The peoples there use  silver which is much purer than sterling silver (all pieces were hallmarked Britannia Silver – 95.8% but were actually of still higher purity).  This silver purity oxidises quickly to an “antiqued” grey, almost pewterish finish and, so,  requires a particular design style; we have worked with a designer/silversmith, Anne,  in Bangkok since 2006 who works with such silver.

So, Katia and Anne between them settled on designs for the 3 pieces of this very rare material.

One was incorporated into a bangle that left the shop 3 days after it was displayed (sorry, we have no photos)

One piece became a pendant that Katia frequently wears to the shop (it’s a kind of advertising.)

Katia’s fossil ivory pendant (on one of Drift’s collars)

The largest piece was incorporated into this extraordinary necklace.   It has since gone to a good home – someone who treats this as the exceptional piece of art that it is.

(Don’t worry – our ethics are wholly intact – the mammoth died some 25,000+ years ago)