Fossil walrus tusk center section is solid and crack free, good for knife handles, pistol grips, fish hooks, jewelry and carvings.  It is 4 1/4" tall,  and tapers slightly from 1 1/2" wide x 2 1/4" wide at the top and 1 7/8" wide  x 2 1/2" wide at the bottom. This was buried but is still very natural ivory colored on the inside inder the tan surface.  The center is not porous it is called secondary dentine (ivory) and is  ivory burl, unique to walrus ivory it polishes glassy smooth. Very old, way before 1972, well cured- Ships Free in the U.S.. 

Excavated on St. Lawrence Island by Eskimo people known as Siberian Yupik. For over 5,000 years the Yupiks had villages along the Bering Sea and fashioned sled runners, net weights, chopping tools and other utensils out of readily available ivory. That ivory became hidden from the world for centuries, when it was discarded in the village middens (dumps) along with tusks and bones of walrus, whales and seals. Only now is that ancient ivory being unearthed, excavated by the descendants of the primitive Yupiks that worked it.