"Aken’ni Elao (altar tusks) are usually ivory tusks carved with scenes of ceremonies or spiritual activities. These were placed at the ancestral shrines of the Ọba and were primarily made as a historical record for documenting events. For the Edo people, the white colour of ivory represents the purity of spirituality. The Ọba owns one tusk from every elephant killed by right and reserves the right to buy the other one. Aken’ni Elao are placed in the opening in commemorative heads at the ancestral altar.
Barbara Blackmun (1984[65]) speculated that the Igbesanmwan began carving tusks specifically for altars around 1750 during the reign of Ọba Akengbuda. According to reports by members of the British expeditionin 1897, carved ivory tusks were found on altars in Ọba Palace. Owing to the destructive nature of the expedition and because so little was recorded, it has been difficult for scholars to reconstruct the exact ways tusks were used or their number (Blackmun, 1983, p.60[38]). However, a rare image taken by Cyril Punch in 1892 shows an altar with tusks and other objects arranged on top. It is believed that tusks – carved and plain – were mounted on bronze commemorative heads and placed on royal altars.
This category includes whole tusks as well as fragments."
Carved elephant tusk from Benin.
Purchased by the Nigerian Government from private owners in Great Britain.
From Mr. A. H. Dick, Radlett, Hertfordshire. Mr. Dick in a letter dated 11.11.54 wrote ""Regarding the stands, I believe these were ordered by my father after je purchased the tusks and were manufactured by a craftsman in Newcastle. I have some hazy recollection that the wood used came from some excavations which took place on the banks of the Tyne, and was black, but I am not certain whether they were stained. I do not think the stands came from Nigeria but, as I say, were made by a local craftsman who copied the tusks. Regarding the date when they were purchased, I am afraid I do not know, but according to what I have been informed there were six of these tusks for sale, two were purchased by my uncle and taken to New York. The other two were, I think, purchased by a Museum in this country, at any rate this is the information which I was given by my mother many years ago. I understand the tusks were purchased at an auction."