The Gudong-collection also contains a number of ivory carvings which were added to the collection in the 1950's and 1960's. The carvings were acquired at a time when the killing of the elephants and their possible extinction were not an issue like it is today. In our ignorance we only saw the beauty of the carvings and we did not think of the suffering of these beautiful and majestic beasts. If we would have realized this at the time, we would certainly not have bought any ivory carvings. We feel disturbed now that we did but at the same time we also feel that the beauty of these carvings and the timeframe in which they were made warrant their display despite their gruesome history.