Carved Silver Animals (The Big Five!) Miniature silver carvings - Elephant, Rhino, Lion etc Start Price GBP 10.00 Current Price GBP 83.89 Time Left - Bid Count 21 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, November 13, 2008 End Time Thursday, November 20, 2008 Location Lydney See more about 'Carved Silver Animals (The Big Five!)' Description Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 An ideal xmas present. The “Big Five” - elephant, lion, buffallo, leopard and rhino. Also Hippopotamus, Crocodile & Kingfisher (with wood mount) hand made in Zambia using  Kabwe Silver, mined as a by-product of Copper producing Broken Hill Mine in Kabwe. Each piece is individually crafted by a local artist and is exteremly rare. The silver is of a high purity and is normally only associated with Malachite bangles and small pieces of Jewellery. It is a very soft silver due to it's purity (98%) and although there is no hallmark (many Kabwe Silver carvings and jewelry never did), it is unmistakedly silver. I will offer complete money back guarantee should whoever purchase the items feel that they are not the genuine article. Feel free to have them tested after purchase and come back to me if you are not satisfied with the results for a full refund (after the return of the goods in their original condition).Total weight of all the carvings combined is 200 grammes (the Kingfisher is estimated to be circa 10 gms when compared to individual weights of the other animals). The set was purchased in Chingola, Zambia in the early 1980’s from a family friend who made these kind of things, including jewelry, for a living. They have been looked after very carefully and kept clean using non-corosive cleaning methods, which such soft silver requires.This is an extremely rare collection and can no longer be purchased at source. Kabwe stopped mining silver many years ago and so the silver jewelry and carving market in Zambia no longer flourishes. This is a very reluctant sale but unfortunately has to be done for economic reasons.Malachite presentation slab also included ( see photos). UK Postage £5:80 insured Place a Bid!