This simple but elegant pair of bezel set elk ivories hang from leverback earrings.
Prized for centuries as jewelry and hunting mementos, the modern elk’s small canine teeth are remnants of tusks once grown by its prehistoric ancestors.
The canine teeth are most commonly known as ivoriesand contain the same material and chemical composition of those sported by walruses and elephants. Both bull and cow elk possess ivories and these teeth wear down with a lifetime’s worth of eating vegetation.
The ivories range in color from bone to a dark chocolate brown; the coloration results from a combination of tannins in the vegetation, salivary juices, and rumination acids.