Strange phone call this morning....

HMP said:
When did they ban ivory?
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Maybe a year or two back, they banned all new ivory sales without cert, even mammoth ivory. I believe there is an intentional gray area around items that already contain ivory that could get you in trouble if somebody really wanted. A lot of knife making/collecting forums have cracked down, and since a lot of traditional knives use ivory, they are listed as fossil/unicorn horn/etc to get around the ban.

I would offer to make the knife for 750.00 out of certified ivory I already had (whether I had it or not) just to see what the response would be.
 
Bailey Boat said:
UPDATE: I heard back from the "friend" and he knows nothing about this guy. Dead deal......

It's my understanding that mere possession of Ivory without the pre ban certification is a felony and could land you in Club Fed for quite some spell, and I guarantee you Big Bubba is gonna be your bestest friend.

I'm going to call a couple of other knife makers this afternoon and see if they have been propositioned in a similar manner....

My fear now is that he sends the Ivory anyway in an attempt to catch me with it in my possession. I can't think of any reason to target me specifically, generally as a knife maker, maybe. But to cook up this friend story knowing I could check it wasn't too bright on his part. No packages for me for a couple of weeks....
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I don't think mere possession of Ivory without pre ban certification is a felony...I think trying to sell or trade it without the certification is a felony.

But don't take my word for it, because I'm not an attorney and even if I was I'm not YOUR attorney.

If mere possession of pre ban Ivory were a felony, then every piece of Ivory without that certification (and there's a lot of it) would be illegal and would have to be destroyed or turned in or something.

I don't think this is a LEO sting, necessarily...sounds like someone may really want something made with some Ivory he has. Problem is, it's not legal for him to do it this way, without the certification.

If it were me, I'd simply commission a knife to be made and then make the handle myself. Not sure of the legality of that even so, without the certificate, but at least it would be my work on my property.
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
I don't think mere possession of Ivory without pre ban certification is a felony...I think trying to sell or trade it without the certification is a felony.

But don't take my word for it, because I'm not an attorney and even if I was I'm not YOUR attorney.

If mere possession of pre ban Ivory were a felony, then every piece of Ivory without that certification (and there's a lot of it) would be illegal and would have to be destroyed or turned in or something.

I don't think this is a LEO sting, necessarily...sounds like someone may really want something made with some Ivory he has. Problem is, it's not legal for him to do it this way, without the certification.

If it were me, I'd simply commission a knife to be made and then make the handle myself. Not sure of the legality of that even so, without the certificate, but at least it would be my work on my property.
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Right. What the Obama administration did was make it harder to legally sell preban ivory in interstate commerce. They couldn’t do anything about intrastate commerce with their executive changes due to not have in-state jurisdiction over those transactions. It was an intentional poke in the eye to the the collectible gun industry, primarily. He new rules do absolutely nothing to save elephants, nor did they do anything about the already illegal trade in poached ivory.

If this is a sting, the guy isn’t very smart about it. You aren’t selling him the ivory imninterstage commerce. He is providing his own. As far as I know, that is still legal. However, I wouldn’t take the chance.
 
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Pink_Vapor said:
What does someone do that has a piece that's been in the family since the 70's and none of this paperwork?
A friend showed me a piece similar to this crab cage, I don't believe she's got any paperwork.
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/35000421_chinese-ivory-crab-cage-lotus-flowers

Am I also at risk for having elephan Tony Lama's?
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Practically, you keep it and don’t worry about it. When you have to be concerned is if you sell it to a resident of another state, especially in a venue that is easily watched, like online.

Elephant skin isn’t regulated as stringently as the evil ivory.
 
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Bear something in mind, there are several types of "Ivory". It seems the Elephant Ivory is the only type that is highly regulated. I even suggested to this guy that I could do Walrus, mammoth or whale which I have access to easily. He was dead set on using his Elephant Ivory and that's where I balked since he had no paperwork. I didn't even bother to ask how he came to have it, or how large the piece was, I didn't really want to know....
 
The rules are different for African elephant and Asian elephant ivory. I don’t believe that the differences affect the situation you described where there is no change of ownership, but I haven’t looked at the rules in a couple years, not since the 2016 changes.
 
fishgutzy said:
That defense didn't work very well for a guy the was badgered by ATF until he agreed to transport legal guns, that he wanted to sell to pay some bills and were legal to sell in NH in a private sale, to a town just over the MA line. Now he is in federal prison because he was in need of money, and the ATF kept upping the price until he crossed state lines.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
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cubrock said:
I didn't know you make knives.
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This, we thought you spent all your time going to the Waffle House and yelling at the television. Didn't know you had any actual skills.
 
Anyone that purchased a knife from you that wasn't happy and tried to set you up?
 
12151791 said:
Anyone that purchased a knife from you that wasn't happy and tried to set you up?
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Highly doubtful..... The only complaint I've ever had in all the years I've been making knives was from a wife. She told me that if I made her husband any more knives she was going to use one to cut my throat.....
 
YeeHaa said:
But he does have skill~s :

Going to the Waffle House and yelling at the television.
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You guys don’t give him enough credit for the breadth of his experience...he also yells at family over the holidays.
 
JimB said:
You guys don’t give him enough credit for the breadth of his experience...he also yells at family over the holidays.
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Only the ones that deserve it and leave me an opening to administer it.....

I'll start a new thread this week and show a few of my pieces that I have photos of. I don't want it to be construed as advertisement for selling anything....
 
The knives that you put up for the auction looked very nice. I'd like to see more of your work.
 
I would also be interested in your knives! Might want to have one made! I like knives as much as guns lol.
 
Speaking of "strange phone calls"...I got one a couple weeks ago.

I was doing an engineering run down to Norfolk Naval Base for a tech assist to help troubleshoot some equipment on a carrier. While on lunch, I got a call on my cell from a number I didn't recognize. I don't normally answer such calls, especially if I don't recognize the area code even; but I figured it might be someone from the ship calling, so I answered.

It was a "robot" message, something to the order of "We are investigating a complaint into (ex-wife). If you have any information on the whereabouts of (ex-wife), please contact Michael Carter at 833-542-4801. The next step in our investigation is to contact the authorities."

Now my stomach is knotted over the mere mention of my ex (it's been over a quarter century and she STILL causes me that much anxiety). I call my wife about this because I'm knotted up inside and I'm not sure what to do. I want NOTHING to do with that b*tch, not even to liaison with someone "investigating a complaint" about her. If they're good enough to find my frickin' cell phone number, they're good enough to find out where she is themselves. If not, then they can feel free to have the "authorities" find her for them.

So, my wife looks up the number the call was from (833-542-4800), as well as the call back number. Apparently, it's some kind of scam, but we can't figure out what. Others report similar calls (sometimes referencing someone they know, sometimes themselves, sometimes an unknown person) with the same general message, always ending with the vaguely threatening "The next step is to contact the authorities."

People reported getting a robot message when they called back, no answer at all, even being hung up on when they tried talking to the person who answered. Nothing, however, giving a clue as to WHY they're getting the call. I'm thinking maybe it's one of those calls designed to get you to say certain things, which can then be used as recordings of your "consent" to spend money on certain scams. But I just don't know.

Strange, as such calls go.

I ended up blocking the 4800 number, and later the 4801 number as well.

Michael Carter ought to consider himself fortunate I didn't call back with the requested information...I may have just saved him from a nightmare encounter I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. That b*tch is so evil she couldn't fight her way BACK into Hell.

Anybody else encounter a call from this person?
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
Speaking of "strange phone calls"...I got one a couple weeks ago.

I was doing an engineering run down to Norfolk Naval Base for a tech assist to help troubleshoot some equipment on a carrier. While on lunch, I got a call on my cell from a number I didn't recognize. I don't normally answer such calls, especially if I don't recognize the area code even; but I figured it might be someone from the ship calling, so I answered.

It was a "robot" message, something to the order of "We are investigating a complaint into (ex-wife). If you have any information on the whereabouts of (ex-wife), please contact Michael Carter at 833-542-4801. The next step in our investigation is to contact the authorities."

Now my stomach is knotted over the mere mention of my ex (it's been over a quarter century and she STILL causes me that much anxiety). I call my wife about this because I'm knotted up inside and I'm not sure what to do. I want NOTHING to do with that b*tch, not even to liaison with someone "investigating a complaint" about her. If they're good enough to find my frickin' cell phone number, they're good enough to find out where she is themselves. If not, then they can feel free to have the "authorities" find her for them.

So, my wife looks up the number the call was from (833-542-4800), as well as the call back number. Apparently, it's some kind of scam, but we can't figure out what. Others report similar calls (sometimes referencing someone they know, sometimes themselves, sometimes an unknown person) with the same general message, always ending with the vaguely threatening "The next step is to contact the authorities."

People reported getting a robot message when they called back, no answer at all, even being hung up on when they tried talking to the person who answered. Nothing, however, giving a clue as to WHY they're getting the call. I'm thinking maybe it's one of those calls designed to get you to say certain things, which can then be used as recordings of your "consent" to spend money on certain scams. But I just don't know.

Strange, as such calls go.

I ended up blocking the 4800 number, and later the 4801 number as well.

Michael Carter ought to consider himself fortunate I didn't call back with the requested information...I may have just saved him from a nightmare encounter I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. That b*tch is so evil she couldn't fight her way BACK into Hell.

Anybody else encounter a call from this person?
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This sounds like a twist on the “person is being detained somewhere for something, need pmt for their release, they said to call you...”
 
JimB said:
This sounds like a twist on the “person is being detained somewhere for something, need pmt for their release, they said to call you...”
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Cowboy said:
I don't think they would have liked his answer especially if she was in danger.
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Oh, they most assuredly would not have liked my answer. No sir, not one bit.

And, had it been for real, SHE most assuredly would not have liked my answer, either.
 
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