# Price of Ivory?



## Lord Ben (Jan 6, 2003)

What is the cost of Ivory?


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## Hypersmurf (Jan 6, 2003)

To the casual buyer, or to the elephant?

-Hyp.


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## Lord Ben (Jan 6, 2003)

Good one!  

I have a statue in the game made of ivory.  It's of a white dragon, slightly larger then a horse, with an appropriate wingspan and all the Dragon bits and pieces.   Using various things you can peel and bend ivory, so it's not solid, it's hollow.  Beutiful work of art, etc.

I was just wondering what it would go for, as well as the pile of ivory tusks next to it.


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## Hypersmurf (Jan 6, 2003)

Well, it's a very campaign-specific question.

Basically, decide: is Ivory more or less valuable, weight for weight, than gold?  Than silver?  Than silk?  ... and assign a price per pound by relating it to the figures for trade goods in the PHB.

That covers the tusks.  Then guesstimate the weight of the statue, which gives you a raw materials value, and modify or multiply for workmanship by whatever figure feels appropriate.

-Hyp.


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## AuraSeer (Jan 6, 2003)

It's worth whatever people are willing to pay. It really depends on your game world.

In a world where ivory is extremely rare and desirable, you could price it the same as an equivalent weight of gold. But in a world where people keep elephants as house pets, ivory wouldn't be worth the effort of stealing it.

A couple of decades ago, ivory was worth about $125 per pound. After countries started to ban ivory imports to protect elephant species, the market collapsed, and the price dropped to something like $3 per pound.


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## Lord Ben (Jan 7, 2003)

Well, they have prices for lots of other commodities, so why not for Ivory too?  That's basically what I want to know.  20gp per pound like silk?  5gp per pound like silver?  I'd say it's closer to silk personally, but I didn't know if it was ever covered in a module, etc.


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## AuraSeer (Jan 7, 2003)

Roll a d100 and divide by 2. That number will be exactly as valid as any number we give you.


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