I've been staying out of this, as I don't really care, but now that I've taken the time to read through the thread...wow. What a load of hogwash.
Let me start by saying that I live in South Africa, and in particular I live 30 minutes drive from the Rare Woods SA facility in Knysna. So I'm going to concentrate on the South African wood used in this piece of "art". I have discussed this at length with an associate from Rare Woods and from two other local timber companies that specialise in unique woods.
First, lets take a choice quote from WoodCollector:
As for pink ivory, you will not find any. Firstly its protected as it is on the top 4 list of most expensive and rarest woods on the planet, secondly it requires a few thousand dollars in permits to harvest legally. This i know as i just ordered an $8,000 piece of Watermelon Ivory ( an even more rare form of pink ivory) from south west Africa and the paperwork required to get it through customs was INSANE. Its not illegal to posses, you can get permits to harvest it for a pretty price tag, but it is very illegal to ship without paying about 4 different duties, 3 different taxes, half a dozen permits, and you have to provide a 1" square sample of the wood being shipped as customs requires it to be lab tested to verify its origin, age, legality.
Firstly,
it is not a protected wood species. Per
Wood-Database - "Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices or on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species." The Wikipedia article on pink ivory mistakenly lists it as being protected in South Africa, as it was on the preliminary list for examination back in 2002 due to its cultural significance. That awareness
has lead to it being sustainably logged, but it is not protected. The 2014 list of protected trees is
published on the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries website, and there is no mention of
Berchemia zeyheri on it.
Secondly, watermelon ivory
does not exist. Nobody has ever heard of it, and I spoke to several people who have been in the industry for decades.
Thirdly, even if it was protected (which it isn't) the permits required for logging protected trees are not difficult to get, and they are completely free to apply for. They do not cost "a few thousand dollars", what rubbish. To quote from
a blog post on the Wild Card Blog - "You need to apply for a license to cut any tree/s, but these licenses are generally easily granted as long as you have sufficient grounds for felling. In brief, the process begins with requesting the license application forms from the regional offices, which are situated all over South Africa in each province. These are provided electronically via e-mail, faxed or posted through to the applicant, or taken off the DAFF (Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) web-site. Once the applicant has filled out and signed the form, it needs to go back to the regional office, where an assessment will be made of the application. The license will then be either granted or not, based on this assessment."
Fourthly, I have no idea about the "4 different duties, 3 different taxes, half a dozen permits" as it applies to the USA, but in South Africa there are no export duties or taxes levied against wood, nor does it require any special permits beyond what was detailed when applying for a (completely free) importers/exporters code.
Finally, pink ivory
is an expensive wood, that much is true. Rare Woods SA
has their pricelist available online, and they have pink ivory listed there. For a cubic meter (which is massive - imagine 1m x 1m / 3.28ft x 3.28ft slabs, 76mm / 3" thick, a cubic meter would contain 13 of those) of pink ivory you'd pay R86 050 + 14% VAT, so R98 097, which is $8 605. For 13 massive slabs. Even with shipping (you'd want something that heavy to go seafreight) and import duties on the other side of the pond...well, you do the math.
Oh and I'd like to just add that properly treated pink ivory doesn't look like it has a layer of goopy acrylic on top. It looks like this:
