One little mammoth is playing, and its mother is keeping watchful eye on the calf. Such scenery should be very common in Ice Age and two fragments of the wholly mammoth tusk let us observe it once again. This mammoth ivory is very unique. You would think that ivory should be white or cream-colored, but what about the black coloration? Yet, it happens when tusk was preserved below arctic circle where it wasn’t frozen in permafrost but got in stronger contact with surrounding minerals. The black patina may come even from coal. I find it is fascinating since coal is fossil too. Mixture of such fossils gives us a very unusual artwork with much wide connection to the past.

This unique artwork that consists of two pieces of mammoth ivory is 6 inches (150mm) tall. It has been sold, but I can gladly create a new carving for you. Please contact me for the price and shipping information.

Two little mammoths are playing and mother of one (and probably aunt of the other) is keeping watchful eye on them. Such scenery should be very common in Ice Age and two fragments of the wholly mammoth tusk let us observe it once again. This mammoth ivory is most unique. You would think that ivory should be white or cream-colored, but what about brown ivory? Yet, it happens when tusk was preserved below arctic circle where it wasn’t frozen in permafrost but got in stronger contact with surrounding minerals. As the result, it displays a very rich variety of colors. Look on the lover piece, it tells the story of its own. Its owner should be huge bull mammoth. You can extrapolate the tusk curvature and it will be the circle at least 7 inches (175mm) in diameter. You can only imagine how long was tusk and how huge its owner was.

This unique artwork that consists of two pieces of mammoth ivory is 7 inches tall and 7 inches (175mm) wide. It has been sold. I can gladly create a new carving for you. Please contact me for the price and shipping information.

This beautiful artwork uses two fragments of mammoth tusk shows a group of saber tooth cubs playing together. Both fragments used to be an outer layer of the tusk and it was a big one. The ivory has most unique coloration owing it to deep mineralization of the surface. Both pieces are wonderful specimens of the mighty Ice Age creature and carvings are enhancing the natural beauty of the material. The entire artwork is 9.5 inches (240mm) tall and 4.5 inches wide (112mm).

This mammoth ivory carving has been sold. I can gladly create a new carving for you. Please contact me for the price and shipping information.

I few pieces of wholly mammoth tusk have been arranged together. One has a carving of wholly mammoth and her cub as we see them now. I couple of pieces with cave painting images of the mammoths as people of that era actually saw them. My artwork was intended to illustrate the how people always saw mammoths, as beautiful and mighty creatures. Also, I wanted to bring forth the beauty of those mammoth tusk fragments, I wanted for them to be a sort of bridge through millennia where sense of beauty flows uninterrupted.

The entire artwork is 12 inches (300mm) high and 10 inches (250mm) long. Each piece is easy to remove, and entire artwork is very easy to take apart for shipping.

The mammoth ivory carving is SOLD. I’m considering creating another project with cave painting elements, but it will look differently.

An another chapter in Ice Age drama, a fight between two mightiest beasts of the time: a sabertooth cat (that was bigger than any modern-day tiger) and wholly rhino. Such moments could happens many times a day during Ice Age and, most likely, not to sabertooth cat advantage, a wholly rhino was a one mightiest beasts of the time, the stronger was only wholly mammoth. The material that was used to carve the scene is a fragment of mammoth tusk. This piece of mammoth ivory came from Northern Siberia where it was in the permafrost for tens of thousands of years. The carving is 12 inches long (appr. 300 mm) and 3 inches wide (appr. 75 mm) The entire artwork stands 6 inches tall (150 mm). This work is not only a wonderful piece of art but an Ice Age specimen as well and can tell it’s own story how strong and unusual it’s owner was.

The mammoth ivory carving has been sold. I can gladly create a new carving for you. Please contact me for the price and shipping information.

This new mammoth scene is the biggest one I ever made. It was possible because I came across this piece of mammoth ivory bark. This wonderful piece is 17 inches (430 mm) long and 4 inches (100 mm) wide but only about 3/8 inch (10mm) at the thickest and came from Alaska. It has a very interesting variety of colors from light brown to dark with some blue and green strikes. Such material is highly sought by knife-makers, but I couldn’t let such fine specimen of mammoth tusk fragment to be chopped into pieces. It undoubtfully used to belong to very mighty bull mammoth, like one of the “fighters”. I carved an entire mammoth group there and it has everything: The fighting males and exited females and two curious and a little bit scared babies. To add to three-dimension effect, I inserted the tusks and my bas-relieve looks much dipper.

This mammoth ivory carving has been sold. I can gladly create a new carving for you. Please contact me for the price and shipping information.

My recent masterpiece. It is also like big walking mammoth but is standing on the base with images of sabretooth cat family. The body of the mammoth is made of finest mammoth ivory that came from Northern Siberia and was preserved in permafrost for at least 20,000 years. The entire body is 3.25 inches (81 mm) tall and 5 inches (125 mm) long with separate carved mammoth tusks. The base is an entire story; it is the round cut-out of mammoth tusk but it was exposed to elements longer and hollow inside. This gives a good opportunity to take a full advantage of it’s surface and make a complicated bas-relieve. I choose a sabretooth cat family, they belong to the time and one of the first creatures that pop into one’s mind while thinking about the Ice Age. I took the good advantage of this piece of mammoth ivory that is itself a touch from the very distant past. The entire artwork stands over 7 inches (177mm) high.

This wonderful masterpiece of mammoth ivory carving is SOLD. Please contact me if you want me to carve something similar.

This project consists of very pretty, very colorful tusk fragment with two attachments. The tusk part is very impressive but light, because it is hollow inside, the walls are not thicker than 1/4 inch (appr 5 to 6 mm). To this impressive piece I attached two smaller pieces of mammoth bark ivory, one with bas-relieve if a mother-mammoth and one with little baby. All the pieces are looking so good together, much better if they were by themselves. The entire artwork is standing 15 inches (600mm) tall and has a walnut base. This magnificent creation is for SOLD. Please contact me if you are looking for a similar artwork.

“Project: Specimen” is a group of creations that was produced out of seemingly useless fragments of mammoth tusk. Each of the artworks turned out to be quite a very unique experience as it had never been like as getting a piece of mammoth ivory and “removing all the extras.” Each project was living and evolving on its own, like it wasn’t just a process of carving but a way of constant discoveries of something new and different than the original thought. Several times I had to alter my original idea, but the results were amazing.

“Project Specimen N1”

The other name of this Mammoth ivory carving is “Life lessons” By itself, this artwork is very unusual and it comes from the artistic part of the material. Such material can’t be easily associated with word “ivory” or “tusk”, only a closer look can reveal that once, maybe 50,000 years ago, it was a part of the tusk of very mighty bull mammoth. That mammoth had lived far away from the modern–day Arctic circle, and because of that this fragment wasn’t so preserved in permafrost and absorbed some surrounding minerals and their colors. When I saw this piece, even when it was rough, I couldn’t hold my excitement. I wanted to preserve this piece in it’s original beauty and let others see it. Also, I wanted to tell a little bit of the story. I wanted to show the animal, how it could look back then and to bring a piece of Ice Age drama within our touch. I decided to carve an mighty adult mammoth pushing away the saber-tooth cat from the baby mammoth. This why the ivory carving is called :Life Lessons”. During the carving, I really went very deep turning some bas-relieve images into almost free-standing figurines. This sculpture is 10-1/2 inches (265mm) tall at the base. The mammoth ivory part is 4.5 inches (110mm) wide. This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can carve a similar carving for you, if I will find a very inspiring piece of material.

“Project Specimen N2”

This beautiful piece of mammoth ivory is fairly thin, about 1/2 inch (10-12mm) on the thickest. It is so-called bark ivory, the outer layer of the tusk and has it’s own unique character, this unique crackling pattern that started to originate maybe when the animal was still alive, sometimes 20,000 years ago. The image of the saber-tooth cat fitted this piece so well and this ivory carving turned out so emotional. The sculpture stands 8.5 inches (220mm) tall and 4 inches (100mm) wide. This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can create a similar artwork for you.

“Project Specimen N3”

Unlike other artworks made from mammoth tusk fragments, this one has no bas-relives. This piece simply wasn’t suitable for the carving. Instead, I’ve decided to put there some images of cave paintings. Our ancestors were lucky enough to witness mammoths alive and they definitely were impressed by those mighty creatures. The cave paintings, by all means, can’t be called primitive. You can feel the power and, yet, the grace of the animals. I can only honestly say that working with this piece was a very emotional experience. I didn’t only touched the long-gone animal but looked on it through the eyes of an ancestor. Art itself, is a never ending part of human existence and this piece of mammoth ivory become a bridge between modern age and stone age artists. This artwork is about 18.5 inches (570mm) long and stands 6 inches (150mm) tall. This piece is SOLD but if you are interested, I can create a similar artwork for you.

“Project Specimen N4”

This is a simple, but very elegant piece of art made, yet, from another piece of mammoth “bark” ivory. I call it sometimes: “Trumpeting Mammoth”. The artwork is tall but not thick at all, only 3/4 inch (18mm) at the thickest. Despite this, I tried to make the mammoth almost free-standing. The piece is turned out to be very emotional and has very interesting variety of colors. It is lightly brown outside with very beautiful coloration of green-blue. Such colors are very rare, but I was simply lucky to work on such beautiful piece of mammoth ivory. This mammoth ivory carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can create a similar carving for you.

“Project Specimen N5”

This is one of several artworks where several tusk fragments were combined together. The long part is hollow inside, it is only bark that was no thicker than 3mm. The second piece was in great shape and proportion to carve a saber-tooth cat. The entire composition is over 12 inches (310 mm) and 4 inches (100 mm) wide. This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can carve a similar carving for you.

“Project Specimen N6”

This is another broken-off fragment of the tusk and, yet, another very interesting example of how such seemingly not very inspirational piece can be turned into something so beautiful. With this piece I decide to take my chances and carve a single image of the mammoth as deep as possible. This way it looks like the animal is stepping from some kind of deep cave, not even a stone cave but more like it steps to us from the depths of time. The artwork is suspending from two brass rods, this way all the attention is going to the carving. When on base, it proudly stands 10-3/4 inches tall (272 mm) with the diameter of the tusk being 3 inches (75 mm).
This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can carve a similar carving for you.

“Project Specimen N7”

Here is another project that is combination of two pieces. One is a fragment of the small tusk that probably belonged to a young mammoth, the second piece is just a small piece of “bark ivory”, it is only 2. by 2.5 inches (50×63 mm). The addition of the carving to the fragment of the tusk had made this composition more balanced and the baby looks so cute. The carving part has some distance between itself and tusk fragment, both pieces are connected by the thin brass rods. The entire artwork is not so small, it stands 11 inches (280 mm) tall.

THE CARVING IS AVALIABLE FOR SALE, PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR THE PRICE AND SHIPPING INFO.

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“Project Specimen N8”

A very elegant carving with mother and cub . It looks deep and some features of adult animal and baby are carved around but the material is quite thin. It is a flaked-off piece of once a very big tusk. Even that the piece is 4.25 inches (105 mm) wide and 4.5 inches (112 mm) tall, it’s thickness is only 3/8 inches (7 mm) at the thickest . Because of such thickness, carving this loving scene turned out to be a challenge. There should be a good feeling of the depth, each character should stand-out and be quite propor-tionate. And when it came to base, it should be different than other bases. I wanted the carving to be elevated and I wanted the base to compliment the carving. It has become an art piece on it’s own. Such design is quite new but it brings-up the carving well. This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can carve a similar carving for you.

“Project Specimen N9”

A quite tall and impressive project that is also a combination of two pieces. The taller piece is a tusk fragment that is over 12 inches (300 mm) long and approximately 2.5 inches (65 mm) wide. It is half-round in shape and gives us a good idea how the complete tusk could look like. It was, definitely, long and slender and belonged to a female mammoth, maybe caring mother like one on the carving.
I also have found a piece of the “bark ivory” that wasn’t big enough to take attention from the tusk part, it had just s right size; 5 by 2 inches (125 by 50mm) and comparable darker colors that were creating a good contrast. For the carving design I have chosen a very gently scene where mother and cub are hugging each out with theirs trunks. As before, I’ve got curious how deep I can go and how closer to free-standing design both animals can be. The result has turned out quite good where front of the animals totally stands out but their backs are blending into background.
Both pieces are connected together by the brass rods and placed on the beautiful walnut base. The entire high of the sculpture is 15.5 inches (394 mm) tall.

This carving is SOLD but if you are interested, I can carve a similar carving for you.

Project Specimen N10″

This tusk piece was part of something really, really big that could be a symbol of raw power that was totally unchallenged for many decades. This fragment was a part of the tusk that could make it’s owner opponent tremble and could send any animal running, even most ferocious ones. In it’s present state, the fragment is hollow inside , only outer layer had survived. It is 5 inches (125mm) in diameter and it is easy to imagine how big was the whole tusk. I can safely assume, it was 8-10 feet (2.5-3 meters) long and, maybe, much bigger in diameter where it was at the thickest. When I got this piece, I instantly felt an urge to find out all the beauty it may possess. It needed some artistic touch to help to tell it’s story. The tusk, undoubtedly, took place in many tournaments. This why I carved there a tale of two mighty mammoths challenging each other. This sculpture stands about 15 inches (375mm) tall. The mammoth ivory carving is hanging over the beautiful walnut base and entire piece is simply stunning. The piece was SOLD rather fast, but I hope to carve another one if there will be similar piece of mammoth tusk.

Sometimes I get a really good and massive piece of mammoth tusk and it is calling to carve a free-standing mammoth. This is totally new design of a woolly mammoth that roamed the Earth thousands of years ago. The figurine is anatomically precise and shows a lot of detail, such as thin hair, skin folds and toes. The overall quality is extremely high, and the figurine looks awesome. It features huge tusks that were the pride of woolly mammoths.
I rarely have pleasure to work with such nice material. This particular mammoth has no base, but it would be easy to add one. The figurine itself measures about 5. inches long from the tips of the tusks to the farthest foot (or 127 mm) and 3.5 inches tall (88 mm).
This mammoth ivory artwork is SOLD. This wonderful piece of art was sold almost instantly. If you like, I can carve one for you, size may be different, depending on material available. I will ship anywhere in the world where mammoth ivory is legal.
P.S I just started to carve another one. Please contact me if you want to reserve it.

This time I decided to carve a free-standing sabertooth cat. Ice age animals keep to fascinate me and sabertooth cat is very beautiful and powerful animal that is truly representative of Ice Age, almost of the same importance as the Wholly Mammoth.

What I like about this statuette that it is very dynamic. The cat is moving, the muscles are bulging, it’s mouth is growling. Something dramatic is about to happen.

To create this piece of art I used a very fine piece of fossil walrus ivory with different kinds of coloration. You can even see some traces of blue. Eyes, teeth, mouth, all carved with great detail. Fossil walrus ivory presents it’s own unique challenges to the artist and should be carved with great attention. The material came from the ancient tusk of walrus that was found on the shores of Bering sea by native Alaskans. The base of the carving is made of the bark ivory of wholly mammoth tusk with it’s own unique coloration. It has blue and greenish colors that is quite rare. This material came from Siberia.

This elaborate and unique ivory carving of sabertooth cat is SOLD. If you like I can carve one for you out of fossil walrus or mammoth ivory, size may be different, depending on material available. I can ship anywhere in the world where mammoth ivory is legal.

This big and massive figurine depicts a woolly mammoth that roamed the Earth thousands of years ago. The figurine is anatomically precise and shows a lot of detail, such as thin hair, skin folds and toes. The overall quality is extremely high, and the figurine looks awesome. It features huge tusks that were the pride of woolly mammoths.

This piece was hand-carved from a high-grade mammoth ivory. I rarely have pleasure to work with such nice material. It had no cracks at all. The mammoth is situated on a piece of mammoth tusk section, it was a part of the hollow section of the tusk, which adds to the composition.

The figurine itself measures about 4.5 inches long from the tips of the tusks to the farthest foot (or 110 mm) and 4 inches tall (100 mm) including the base.

This mammoth ivory artwork is SOLD. This wonderful piece of art was sold almost instantly. If you like I can carve one for you, size may be different, depending on material available. I will ship anywhere in the world where mammoth ivory is legal.

A good example how something that started as one kind of project ended up becoming something different but even more interesting. It started as another “Walking mammoth” project but one my friend suggested to turn it into a scene. This baby seemed as a good choice and it turned to be a mischievous one, the same way how all babies behave when they simply want to play.

The carving is SOLD now but let me know if you like to commission something like that or something different.

This time I’m showing my newest carving that is now completed. It is quite ambitious project that is showing five adults and two baby mammoths. Two adult bull mammoths are fighting and babies and females are watching them. One male calf is getting too “exited” and probably wants to join.
The carving is taking place on piece of bark ivory 15 inches or 381 mm long and 3.25 inches or 83 mm wide. It has the base made out of another piece of bark ivory. Each mammoth is carved in great detail, even their hair. You can see how animals appear almost free-standing. The background is carved too with many bushes.

This piece of ivory is pretty unique because of it’s coloration. As yo can see, it has darker front and background. It is not artificial, it is how mineralization occurred over the thousands of years. This why I can carve white part and use dark sides for front and background. I love when I can get pieces like that, they are looking so beautiful when carved.

The mammoth tusk carving is sold.
Thank you Steve for such kind words:”
….I really like you piece it is the best of our collection. Steve S…..”

Just a family of sabertooth cats with mother in the middle tending her young. I made this carving using a single cross-cut section of mammoth tusk. The ivory was well preserved in permafrost and stabilized. All the cracks have been treated and some of them are well incorporated into the carving. Mammoth ivory is a perfect material for very detailed projects such as this one. The carving is 5 inches wide and 4.5 inches tall.
This picture is temporal, I will put more pictures soon that will present this work of art in greater detail.

This elaborate and unique masterpiece is SOLD.

This small figurine depicts a male woolly mammoth that roamed the Earth thousands of years ago. The figurine is anatomically precise and shows a lot of detail, such as thin hair, skin folds and toes. The overall quality is extremely high, and the figurine looks awesome. It features huge tusks that were the pride of woolly mammoths.

This piece was hand-carved from a high-grade mammoth ivory. The mammoth is situated on a piece of mammoth tusk bark, which adds to the composition. The figurine itself measures 2-1/4 inches long from the tips of the tusks to the farthest foot and 1-7/8 inches tall including the base.

This mammoth ivory carving is Sold

This mammoth ivory carving is showing a moment of life of mammoth family. One mammoth is calming her calf while the other mammoth is trying to chase the sabertooth cat away.
For this work I used an outer section of mammoth tusk 6-3/4″ (171mm) tall, 3″ (76mm) wide and 7/8″ (23mm) thick on the thickest. Mammoth ivory is very wonderful material to carve and I tried to go as deep as I can and have this carving in very detail. Each of the characters is carved so deep, it is almost free-standing. In the same moment, I tried to preserve an authentic looks of the mammoth tusk.
Base is made out of aromatic cedar and included.

This ivory carving is SOLD, but I always work on something similar.

This composition features 7 mammoths, which includes two calves. It is an example of relief carving, showing a flat representation of three-dimensional objects on a panel. An observer may enjoy how the smooth shapes of mammoths are enclosed within the scenery of their habitat. The panel is about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick, and it is enough thickness to show mammoths in great detail. You may see how the trunks of the mother and the calf tangle. It is interesting to look at the panel from different angles and discover more details of the work.

The piece measures about 15 inches high. It is carved from a bark ivory piece that was cleaned, polished and dried. The colors are all natural. By looking close at the details, one may notice how the texture and color of ivory changes with the depth of the carving. There is a number of cracks that run along the piece, but none of them harms the composition. Instead, they add to the authenticity and age of the ivory.

This round section of the mammoth tusk that was used for this carving probably belonged to a juvenile mammoth, maybe slightly older than the calf on the carving, it is about 1-1/2″ in diameter.

Name: Mammoth lantern

Material: Outer section of mammoth tusk

Description: This round section of the tusk is not so thick and it gave me an interesting idea; to carve it deep enough so light can go through. Then I put a little light behind and reflector. When light is on, the effect is very beautiful, it gives some extra depth to the carving and every small detail stands out. The light set and the reflector can be easily removed.
The carving is 4.5″ (114mm) tall and 3-3/4″ (95mm) wide plus width of it’s wooden base.

The ivory carving is SOLD

The piece of mammoth ivory, that was used to create this carving, used to be a tip of mammoth tusk or a section of the tip. It definitely was used to chase the predators away. It was my first thought when I saw this piece of material and I wanted to bring it back to action one more time.
The carving is 6″ (150mm) tall and 2-1/4″ (57mm) wide plus width of it’s wooden base.

The words of the client who commissioned this work:

Dear Mr. Soyfer,…
…… Now, I want thank you myself for allowing me to purchase such a gorgeous work of art from you. It is indeed beautiful and even now I consider myself fortunate to own such a wonderful work. I very much admire such craftsmanship and skill that it takes to do this…..I simply cannot say enough about it.
…….Again, it’s not very often I would be able to thank an artist, almost in person, for creating a work of art for me, but now,
I am pleased to say thank you so very much for doing that magnificent carving for me.
My kindest regards and thanks,
– Dan