Lot 51
£756
Auction: 19 May 2023 from 10:00 BST
the tooth with an applied silver collar, with pierced sides, the integral oval seal with an engraved crest above a heraldic shield, engraved to the sides NGAMILAND 15 SEPT 1929
Note:
CITES STATUS: African Lion Panthera leo - CITES Appendix II - Annex B (Added 02/01/2017) [Only the populations of India are CITES Appendix I (26/11/2019); all other populations are included in Appendix II] - Article 10 Exempt as a worked specimen in a finished state before 3 March 1947
This specimen has been carved and fitted inside this desk seal that is clearly hallmarked and dated to 1929 with the location of Ngamiland (a North-West district area of Botswana). The only big cat species large enough for this specimen to have come from is either a lion or a tiger. All species of tiger's population range were on another continent from Ngamiland in the 1920s as were all populations of the Asiatic Lion, therefore this specimen could only have come from an African Lion. Following the CoP17 summit in Johannesburg in 2017 the trade in lion parts including bones, skins, teeth to trophy heads were banned from current wild populations but historic specimens appear to still be subject to the same jurisdiction as other specimens from Appendix II species. An Article 10 Certificate is not required to own or trade in specimens of species listed on Annex B of the CITES regulations.