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Just curious what would be a reasonable price?

Solid keys, or veneered?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Veneered…

Well, lots of old pianos are usually available in my area for free - provided I do the removing. I used to have a bunch of keys - black and white, and eventually I sold all my veneers to a gal who did crafts with them because I just wasn't using them. Of course - that left the rest of the piano to part out/ dispose of. If you don't have the room or the inclination...

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I'm assuming Canadian restrictions on ivory are at least as stringent as those in the USA. To make a commercial sale, meaning money changes hands, there are major hurdles that must be addressed to do it legally. Lots of forms, proof of provenance, etc.
In the US, Fish and Wildlife is responsible for enforcing CITES and they used to be quite aggressive in enforcement. These days, probably not so much. I've heard Canada is very diligent with enforcing this sort of thing. Basically, all commercial trade in elephant ivory is illegal without the aforementioned forms, etc. IMO, any transaction involving ivory is probably not worth it.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

Even with no intent to cross international borders?

You'd have to check with the Canadian authorities but in US it's illegal to sell any ivory anywhere without lots of forms and permits.
Are you thinking of buying or selling?

_________________
Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

Buying from FB marketplace. Seems better just to skip it…

The seller has more legal jeopardy than the buyer. If you were to refashion the pieces into something for sale you'd obviously become the seller.
I'm sitting on some ivory nuts and saddles I bought from Joseph Wallo in Arlington VA in the 1980s. They were cut in Germany back in the 60s. They are not directly affecting illegal poaching of elephants today, other than possessing value as a "premium" substance. The only way I might be able to safely use it would be to give it away, thereby bypassing the commercial aspect.

_________________
Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

worthless

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

A buddy of mine gave me a box of old veneered piano keys years ago. I've used the material for replacing inlays on old banjos I'm restoring and for stuff that I keep around the house. It's nice for that, but I wouldn't even think of trying to resell anything made with it.

Dave

I once restored pianos. Keytops, whether they are ivory or plastic are about 1/16" thick. I've actually never measured the thickness of one so I could be off on that a bit. I have never heard of or seen a piano key that is solid ivory although the sharps and flats are, in better pianos, solid ebony.

Ivory keytops are not worth much and, as far as I know, have no standard value unless it's an entire set sold for piano keytop replacement. If that's the intention I'd check with a piano supply place to get a current value.

The only way they could be used in guitar making is for small inlay work and because in small pieces you can't see the grain, they appear as any off white plastic does, which is not interesting visually.

Depends a lot on condition and whether you’re selling to a player, restorer, or collector. A full set in good shape can bring some value to someone restoring an older piano, but individual keys or chipped sets usually don’t go for much.

I agree with most of the members whoʻve posted about this. Piano ivories, whether modern or historic keyboards, are always thin veneers, and there are limited uses for them.

An aside: my mother was a concert pianist and music educator - she always liked the feel of ivory keys, and didnʻt like any of the plastic substitutes as much <g>...

If anybody has an interest in more detail about the ivory restrictions, I can ask a past employee of mine to write up something. Heʻs now a bowmaker, both modern and early bows, with a lot of international sales. Heʻs tried all sorts of ivory substitutes over years. There are the various bone suppliers that many of you probably know about. We used to have a source for mammoth tusk - I donʻt know if itʻs still available or not. When we asked the supplier about restrictions or issues around buying and selling it, he laughed and said, "You donʻt understand - when you go up in Siberia, thereʻs so much of it that you trip over it." But that was some years ago, and it may also be restricted now. You lose a lot of it unless youʻre making very small objects from it, because it usually has lots of checks in it.

The use for it in violin bow making is for very small pieces - the buttons at the frog of the bow for adjusting hair tension, the tip protectors on modern bows.

The problem with mammoth ivory is that it can be hard to tell from modern elephant ivory, particularly in small pieces, such as inlays. The end grain is significantly different, but you don't always get to see that. Customs agents, of course, are hammers in search of a nail: in their eyes we're all smugglers until proven otherwise. They don't always get things right, either. Anything that's questionable could be a problem. Why risk it?

I’ve given up on the idea, but…all that only matters when crossing borders. I have a stash of gorgeous Braz that can never leave the confines of my glorious country, so I thought why not decorate with unseemly materials since it’s stuck here anyway?