Masters of artistic sculpture Alexander and Elena Koptelov work with unusual material. Their expressive author’s works made of mammoth tusk: funny, fantastic, fabulous or grotesque images are in the art collections of different countries.

Masters highly value the fossilized mammoth tusk. Its dense structure, often white but usually yellowish, sometimes tinged with mineral salts, makes it an ideal material for bone carving. Mammoth bones are found in France, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine. But only in the regions of permafrost mammoth tusk is preserved in its original form. One of the largest such regions is Yakutia, where a large amount of this valuable material is still mined annually.