WORKING OF IVORY £53 



material combines a greater variety of excellent qualities, 

 and these render it equally adapted for articles of beauty and 

 usefulness. Almost from time immemorial gold, silver, and 

 ivory have been among the most appreciated of precious ma- 

 terials, a popularity which clearly indicates the presence 

 of some enduring and peculiar quality in these substances 

 which has given them so great a value. 



Ivory is used extensively in the manufacture of the higher 

 class of toilet articles, which are as much in favour to-day 

 as ever before. Among the articles entirely of ivory are 

 the following : trays, hair receivers, glove stretchers, cold- 

 cream boxes, tooth-powder boxes, shoehorns, nail-powder 

 boxes, hairpin stands, powder boxes, pin boxes, hatpin 

 stands, glove-powder boxes, talcum-powder boxes, hair- 

 pin boxes, salve boxes, jewel boxes, pomade boxes, vase- 

 line boxes. In a number of other toilet articles the backs 

 and handles are of solid ivory; there are: mirrors, hair 

 brushes, hat brushes, face-powder brushes, nail files, clothes 

 brushes, bonnet brushes, pincushions, buttonhooks, cuti- 

 cle knives, shaving mirrors, shaving brushes, military 

 brushes, whiskbrooms, velvet brushes and nailscrapers, 

 as well as fine combs. These last-named objects are often 

 of beautiful ivory, very thin and delicate, and of exquisite 

 workmanship. The teeth are so fine that they measure 

 29 to 49 to the inch, which means that they are cut singly 

 with an automatic saw with a blade from 1-50 to 1-100 of an 

 inch in thickness, and they sell for from 25 cents for the small 

 combs to $2 or $2.50 for the large 4-in. combs. 



The size of the pieces of ivory used in the larger toilet 

 articles is frequently remarkable. Thus hand mirrors with 

 ivory backs of a single piece 5| in. wide, and more than 12| 

 in. long to the end of the handle, are occasionally met 

 with, and there are also circular hand mirrors 6i in. across 

 and 9J in. to the end of the handle. These are all won- 



