Hi Tom, I think it's always been tough, but in the last few years it must have become a bunch tougher!!! As the price for even a small tusk tip ($50.00 to $60.00 dollars, 5 yrs ago) exceeds several hundred dollars now!!... I see it for sale from time to time but not in any sizable chunk.. A lot has been done lately in mammoth, but to get a nice clear piece of this stuff is practically impossible... and, pretty hard to sell something with a big check running right down the middle..
The only two mag bottoms I ever wanted to keep were standard ones I made out of elephant ivory... I wanted to learn about ivory in order to distinguish between fake and real, further down the collecting road... when I was done I held one of them up and said,"Yup! Looks just like white plastic!" Actually the stuff is increadible to work with, cuts easily, is strong, and polishes up beautifully! BTW, It takes a sizable piece to make a mag bottom, for my tooling a puck sized piece, approx. 2" in dia. by 1" thick...
Grips, I can't even imagine...
Best to all, til....lat'r....GT