Anyone know what happened to these Elephant tusks?

[AfricaHunting.com]

I received this morning an email from South Africa, if anyone has any information or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

Morning Jerome, Need some help locating the whereabouts of a pair of tusks. The jumbo was shot by my brother-in-laws late father, Mr. F Janse Van Rensburg. The old man was farming in the Eldoret area in Kenya up and till the late 1950's. They used to go jumbo hunting on a regular basis. The elephant in question was shot in 1949 on the Tana river close to Garrisa. Weights were, as we can recall 147 and 148 lb's. Their lengths were +- 11 feet. The old man used a .425 WR. We know that they were displayed at the Nairobi train station for some time. What happened to them then is a mistery.
Your input would be greatly appreciated
Regards
Johan

 

[monish]

Jerome,

MASSIVE TUSKS ............ wish to know about their whereabouts ....

Monish

 

[Kiwi505]

Sold?

Great trophies in anycase.

 

[mycoroot]

Tusks

The wispers around the campfire go that the oldman and his brother shot a an even bigger (illegal) tusker in Somalia. A single tusker, other one broken of 2/3 of lenghth. Full tusks weight were 212 lb and broken one 80 lb+. Bought himself a new Massey Harris tractor with the ill gained proceeds ! Were tough times for farmers then in Kenya after WW 2

 

[Ole Bally]

The pic I have was found in my oupas stuff when he died! There aren't any other pics of him so I have no idea of the real story behind it...Just such an awesome Elephant!

 

[enysse]

It would be interesting to hear the true story behind this giant.

 

[Ole Bally]

Bet they got made into snooker balls like most them from from that era!:crying:

 

[35bore]

Jerome, SpikeT told me he shot that Jumbo, and has the tusks on his wall....???? Was he lying to me? :draught::beer:

Just having some fun at spike's expense, monster Jumbo though.

 

[Cliffy]

I wanna be a hunter like SpikeT!

 

[spike.t]

Jerome, SpikeT told me he shot that Jumbo, and has the tusks on his wall....???? Was he lying to me? :draught::beer:

Just having some fun at spike's expense, monster Jumbo though.

now they are the small ones!! you should see the big tusks i have framing these ones :humble::biggrin2::beer:

 

[Andre5150]

Hi there. Anyone still on this thread? The guy in that picture is my great great grandfather. I would like to get in touch with anyone who has ties to him. I have original pictures at the house. They were Van Rensburgs. I grew up with this story being told differently.

It’s said that the elephant was old. And the chief of the land gave them permision to shoot it. That’s why they were on display in Kenya as well.

I would like to get in touch and share this. Maybe find long lost family members in the process

 

[CAustin]

Hi there. Anyone still on this thread? The guy in that picture is my great great grandfather. I would like to get in touch with anyone who has ties to him. I have original pictures at the house. They were Van Rensburgs. I grew up with this story being told differently.

It’s said that the elephant was old. And the chief of the land gave them permision to shoot it. That’s why they were on display in Kenya as well.

I would like to get in touch and share this. Maybe find long lost family members in the process

Good luck to you sir in researching your ancestry!

 

[Andre5150]

Thanks. Hopefully someone responds. Would be awesome to really look at this and dig deep.

 

[Philip Glass]

Hi there. Anyone still on this thread? The guy in that picture is my great great grandfather. I would like to get in touch with anyone who has ties to him. I have original pictures at the house. They were Van Rensburgs. I grew up with this story being told differently.

It’s said that the elephant was old. And the chief of the land gave them permision to shoot it. That’s why they were on display in Kenya as well.

I would like to get in touch and share this. Maybe find long lost family members in the process

What a story!

 

[Philip Glass]

Sadly they probably went to China at some point long ago,
Philip

 

[Ole Bally]

I received this morning an email from South Africa, if anyone has any information or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

Morning Jerome, Need some help locating the whereabouts of a pair of tusks. The jumbo was shot by my brother-in-laws late father, Mr. F Janse Van Rensburg. The old man was farming in the Eldoret area in Kenya up and till the late 1950's. They used to go jumbo hunting on a regular basis. The elephant in question was shot in 1949 on the Tana river close to Garrisa. Weights were, as we can recall 147 and 148 lb's. Their lengths were +- 11 feet. The old man used a .425 WR. We know that they were displayed at the Nairobi train station for some time. What happened to them then is a mistery.
Your input would be greatly appreciated
Regards
Johan

Hello Johan.
I have a photo of this same day. It was amongst photographs we found with Richard Kleyhans here in Zim. Apparently his uncle and my grandfather were mates and hunted together....nothing more was known about its origins...perhaps your grandfather and them were all mates?!!
It would be interesting to know where they are today!

Hi there. Anyone still on this thread? The guy in that picture is my great great grandfather. I would like to get in touch with anyone who has ties to him. I have original pictures at the house. They were Van Rensburgs. I grew up with this story being told differently.

It’s said that the elephant was old. And the chief of the land gave them permision to shoot it. That’s why they were on display in Kenya as well.

I would like to get in touch and share this. Maybe find long lost family members in the process

 

[Wheels]

Jerome,

Tony Sanchez-Arino, in his book Africa's Greatest Tuskers, lists these tusks at 172 and 169 lbs. They are 11' and 11'2" in length, making them some of the longest ever measured.

According to Sanchez-Arino, these tusks were sold by van Rensburg to Safariland (old Newland & Tarlton) for 200 pounds in the late 40's to help pay for the expenses of running the farm. Safariland displayed them in their offices to impress hunters. An American hunter paid the ridiculous sum of 1000 pounds D) for them in 1960.

Sanchez-Arino does not know where the ivory is at the present, but he does remember them from the old Safariland offices.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Magnificent!

 

[Dinosaur]

Hi there. Anyone still on this thread? The guy in that picture is my great great grandfather. I would like to get in touch with anyone who has ties to him. I have original pictures at the house. They were Van Rensburgs. I grew up with this story being told differently.

It’s said that the elephant was old. And the chief of the land gave them permision to shoot it. That’s why they were on display in Kenya as well.

I would like to get in touch and share this. Maybe find long lost family members in the process

G'day Andre

To find history of your family, you could possibly chase up army records, maybe the Kings African Rifles, or the Kenya Regiment. I have a link for the Kenya Regiment, and there are a few soldiers with the same surname.

https://www.kenyaregiment.org/

https://www.kenyaregiment.org/longroll.html

http://www.oldcambrians.com/Photos-KenyaRegiment1958.html


Maybe the soldiers on the attached list may be related, and may still be alive, either way maybe contact the Web Page contacts??

Wish you the best of luck.

Regards

Rob

 

[sambarhunter]

11' are they really? I look at the length of the rifle and the height of the man and 11' seems a little extravagant.
I doubt if the fella is 8' tall lol.