Fri 15 Feb 2008
First a little history about billiard balls.
According to the article on Wikipedia, the earliest balls were made of wood, and later clay (the latter remaining in use well into the 20th century).
Ivory was used for a period, but by the mid-1800’s, elephants were being slaughtered for their ivory at an alarming rate, just to keep up with the demand for billiard balls. No more than eight balls could be made from a single elephant.