Ivory: no. Not antique, not inherited, not a small carving, not a piano key. Not with paperwork.
Everything else from a wild animal depends on what species it came from, and the answer is often no.
What is prohibited outright here
- Ivory of any age or origin
- Tiger, leopard and other protected species — skins, claws, teeth, bones, whiskers
- Rhino horn, turtle and tortoise shell, pangolin scales
- Mounted or preserved protected animals and birds
- Protected birds' feathers, including peacock feathers in forms the law restricts
- Shahtoosh
- Corals and many sea shells
If a thing came off a wild animal, treat the answer as no until you have established otherwise, rather than the other way round.
Why age does not help
The commonest honest mistake. People assume an old piece is exempt because it predates the rules.
Indian wildlife law does not work like that. Possession and trade in protected material is restricted regardless of when the object was made, and some of it requires a declaration or certificate simply to hold. An antique ivory carving is still ivory.
So "it is Victorian" is not an answer, and neither is "it was my grandmother's".
What is generally fine
- Wool, silk, leather and horn from ordinary farmed animals — the material of most ordinary objects
- Common seashells of unprotected species, which is most shells sold as decor
- Fossils, which are their own question and can shade into the antiquities rules
- Replicas and resin, said clearly to be replicas
Rocks and crystals is the neighbouring category and is mostly uncomplicated.
If you are not sure what a thing is made of
That is the actual problem with this category: bone, horn, resin and ivory are hard to tell apart, and a confident guess is how people end up selling something they should not.
Do not guess in either direction. Describing real ivory as bone is the serious version; describing bone as ivory is a misdescription that ends in a return. Get it identified.
For buyers
A listing offering any of the prohibited material is reportable under Safety / report someone, and worth reporting even if it looks like innocence rather than intent.
More: prohibited items explained, can I sell genuine antiquities, how moderation works.