Elephant leather

[Elliot]

The grid lines are 1 foot apart in the photos

Prices per photo shipped flat-rate box lower 48 only

Questions PM me

1# 85.00

2# 35.00

3# 85.00

.

Below are close-ups. 

1 & 3 are dark chocolate

[PhillyRock]

Message sent

[Elliot]

#2 sold pending funds

1 & 3 still for sale

[MGlose]

Pm sent 

[Elliot]

#3 sold pending funds.

[JHobbs]

seeing how large an elephant is why are the hides so expensive? They are not hard to find, and they seem like pretty slow animals. IJS

[bikermutt07]

1 hour ago, JHobbs said:

seeing how large an elephant is why are the hides so expensive? They are not hard to find, and they seem like pretty slow animals. IJS

Hahahaha. I imagine they are difficult to legally harvest. And once they fall over maybe they can only get half the hide.

[PhillyRock]

5 hours ago, JHobbs said:

seeing how large an elephant is why are the hides so expensive? They are not hard to find, and they seem like pretty slow animals. IJS

 

The tanning process and the country the hides are harvested from are why they are so expensive.

Zambezi Tanners in Zimbabwe only do limited tanning runs on an annual basis. Hippo is done around September, Elephant around July, Wildebeest and Warthog in late December, Giraffe and all other hides in the spring. The amount of  Chromium used in the process is toxic and hazardous to the environment.

They store all the crusts (Animal hides heavily salted and stored flesh side to flesh side) in a temp controlled warehouse all year until the scheduled tanning of specific species. The clean up of the chromium and tanning drums takes longer than the tanning process so there has to be a price that supports the down time. The tanning of specific species is limited to 15,000 sq feet a year to promote sustainability and to earn the CITES certification. There are two other major tanneries in south Africa that I'm not familiar with but I know one does Ostrich exclusively and nothing else.

Ive looked into getting an import license to buy wholesale and traveled to Doon plantation estate in Zimbabwe but I couldn't get the investors. 

[bikermutt07]

What does the thickness run?

[Elliot]

I have been told a fully grown Bull, thin places 3/8 in to over 1/2 at the thickest. The wrinkles can be quite deep.  takes much work to get hides down to belt thickness, without cutting into the wrinkles.

I think 75.00 sq ft is cheep for the work involved.

Rod

[PhillyRock]

3 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

What does the thickness run?

Most elephant comes in at 3 to 5 oz,

Some leg and trunk pieces run 5 to 7 oz

[bikermutt07]

Thanks

[Ed in Tx]

I have purchased elephant hide for far less than $75 a sq. ft. Elephant hide is readily available at the Boot and Saddle Makers Roundup in Wichita Falls usually for $40 sq. ft. at the high end. You can purchase pieces as large as you want and some vendors have smaller pieces as well. Last October I purchased a couple of really nice pieces for $25 sq. ft. One was about 60" long and about 10" wide for $120 the other was around 3 1/2 sq. ft. for $130.

[PhillyRock]

I purchased the #2 lot from this gentleman and here is my testimony:

Messages were answered quickly,

Payment was easy,

Communication was clear,

Shipping was prompt,

Quality was far better than the photos give credit for.

 

This gentleman even included a hand written "thank you" note reminiscent of better times when deals were honored with a handshake and people were trusted without hesitation.

 

Buy with confidence and your elephant will look much better in person.

[Elliot]

On 4/14/2017 at 5:00 PM, Elliot said:

The grid lines are 1 foot apart in the photos

Prices per photo shipped flat-rate box lower 48 only

Questions PM me

1# 85.00

2# 35.00

3# 85.00

I will split up # 1          Upper left    Upper right   and Lower center

Each one 35.00 shipped US only

 

 

[Elliot]

#1 sold pending funds.

thank you