Remembering off the cuff here, but were not most of the ivory one piece as well? Before they were hunted to next to nothing, there were loads of big elephants out there with some monumentally large tusks. I have seen a Winchester with solid ivory stock and forearm, all one piece. To me it was as ugly as a shaved goat trained to walk backwards, but I do understand it is best if we do not all want to dance with the same girl. Either way, ivory used to be much bigger in the 19th century because it had the time to get there.