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Looking for any info on the maker of this piece or any info on area of origin. Any help appreciated!

This appears to be a Chinese representation of the Daoist longevity god, Shoulao, holding a peach of immortality. The four-character mark on the base reads across from left to right in two lines as 'Great Ming Chenghua' (Da Ming Cheng Hua). The characters being written in the Western style like this suggest to me that the piece might have been carved in Hong Kong, Taiwan or somewhere in Southeast Asia during the third Quarter of the 20th century, before the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) came into force.

Best regards,

Bill H.

So, in your opinion, it is ivory and is legal to sell?

Legalities involved in selling ivory are manifold. In general, international trade in antique ivory moving to and from the the USA is legal under the CITES treaty but requires documentation of the item's antiquity. For the most part, sales of ivory imported into the USA before the CITES treaty came into force in the mid-1970's is legal without any special documentation, as far as I know. However, the State of California recently enacted a law prohibiting possession of ivory of any kind, antique or not, with the intent to sell it. If you are in the USA, the US Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of Interior is the enforcement agency for CITES.

Good luck,

Bill H.

Ivory for sure!
Ernest

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