An immense Khyber sword

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by John Aubrey

Someone could write a book or at least a monograph on the subject of how walrus ivory was:

1)First identified as an article of interest,

2) How it became a desirable commodity in Central Asia and Persia/India,

3 Who who the groups and ethnicities were who formed the trading network for it.

It's an old trade, medieval or older. I don't know any modern papers/books, but the topic has been covered:

Arabic and Chinese Trade in Walrus and Narwhal Ivory
Berthold Laufer and Paul Pelliot
T'oung Pao , Second Series, Vol. 14, No. 3 (1913), pp. 315-370
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4526349

Supplementary Notes on Walrus and Narwhal Ivory
Berthold Laufer
T'oung Pao , Second Series, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Jul., 1916), pp. 348-389
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4526501

... and perhaps there is something in Laufer's book, Ivory in China (freely available at http://archive.org/details/ivoryinchina21lauf ).

[Stasa Katz]

And yes, the internet, well used, is a marvel.

Thank you again..

[spiral]

Walrus ivory was collected in Greenland etc. & traded by the Vikings to the main european trading centres at least.

There are so many references to this, Ill leave any one interested to find them.

As an unsupported supposition its known that the Vikings traveled & traded to the Middle east, North Africa & deep into Russia at the very least, so its possible there standard trade item of walrus tusks could have also spread into those parts.

spiral