I'm watching a documentary called The Ivory Game on Netflix, and the butchering of Elephants to supply illegal ivory to China, where ivory is actually legal to sell.
If you know me you know my love of all animals. Elephants are a favorite, just such majestic creatures, so beautiful, and the fact that they're being killed for their tusks is just nauseating to me. They say that if things don't change, if they can't stop the illegal ivory trade, we could lose African Elephants, they could be extinct in as little as 15 years from now.
Now comes my question. I have an antique tea pot with an ivory handle and ivory top. It was given to my parents over 30 years ago from friends in Germany, they had it for over 50 years and it was passed down from generation to generation. The bottom was scratched up so I couldn't see the markings, the maker, etc. But I found a silver cleaning DIY online and when I used it it not only cleaned the silver, it revealed the markings. I have since found out that this teapot is from the 1800's, and there is a Silver only counterpart, exactly like mine without the ivory handle and topper, selling for 15,000 pounds.
I want to sell this piece. Not only could we use the money, but I just don't want it in my house because of the ivory.
So my question is, I live in Canada, where selling ivory is illegal, but is it illegal to sell a piece that's this old, that you didn't purchase? How strict is this law? If it's shown and proven that the piece is an antique, is it still illegal to sell it, or is it just new pieces?
I've been looking everywhere online and I can't find out whether it's legal for me to sell this thing, or if I'm stuck with it forever.