A story that began with a book.

The first journey was through words.

My great uncle, Edward S. Curtis, is remembered as America’s most significant Native American ethnographer. His work and his connection to the era of Theodore Roosevelt formed part of a family history that reached me through a book: African Game Trails, Roosevelt’s account of his African expedition, first published in 1910.

That book occupied a prominent place in my paternal grandmother’s library. It was the first book I learned to read, at the age of three. I still have that same copy today. It is worn from the hands of a small boy and now in need of rebinding.

Within its pages was a world that became a lifelong fascination: Africa’s people and wildlife, its vast landscapes, its travel and adventure, and the sense of lives once lived on a grand scale.

More than five decades in Africa.

I have traveled from Ngorongoro to the Selous, from Bangweulu to Kafue, across the Kalahari and along the Skeleton Coast, and east through the length of the Caprivi. Much of that travel was undertaken with little more than a pair of rifles, a few sharp blades, and a reliable Land Cruiser.

I have viewed the edges of the continent from every point of the compass and continued into its ever-changing interior. Africa has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life.

Over those decades, I spent more than fifteen years on the continent itself and experienced the hunting world from both sides of the professional hunter/client relationship. I was licensed as a professional hunter in two countries and practiced in a third. That experience shaped not only how I understand Africa, but also how I perceive the tenets of responsibility, craftsmanship, planning, and respect for the animals pursued.

The responsibility of the elephant.

No animal occupies the same place in the African landscape—or in the life of a hunter—as the African elephant.

An elephant is magnificent, powerful, intelligent, and entirely capable of determining the course of an encounter. It moves through its world with an authority that no other creatures possess. To approach one closely is to understand that the outcome is never controlled by the hunter alone.

I have hunted elephant five times. During the first four encounters, hunter and elephant went their separate ways unharmed. On the fifth hunt, an elephant was taken.

Such an experience carries obligations that extend far beyond the act itself. The legendary elephant hunters wrote of the animal with profound respect. That respect demands preparation, sound judgment, restraint, and, when the decision is made, the ability to bring the encounter to a swift and humane conclusion.

For me, that moral foundation is inseparable from the meaning of the hunt. Without it, one may pursue an animal, but one has not understood the responsibility of being a hunter.

Why the ARC was created.

Conventional tusk holders have long been variations on a common theme. Their visible differences are largely decorative: hide treatments, silhouettes inspired by Africa, wood species, color, and finish. Beneath those differences, the method of support is substantially the same.

Traditional mounting commonly requires the tusk’s internal nerve cavity to become part of the permanent support structure. A metal rod is secured within the cavity using a two-part resin filler. The process must be carefully controlled because the heat generated during curing can place the ivory at risk. Once completed, the hardened internal material and projecting support rod permanently alter the tusk and dictate how it may be presented in the future.

Could the tusks be securely displayed without permanently changing them?

A friend recalled seeing a stone and curved wood crude object used to support ivory. That memory began a broader exploration and eventually led to the mathematical principle that gave the ARC both its form and its name.

The answer did not emerge in a single attempt. Seven prototypes were created, tested, and modified as balance and form issues revealed themselves. Each version contributed to the development of an adjustable internal system that allows the support geometry to be adjusted for the individual shape, curvature, and weight of a tusk.

The process continues to evolve. A new prototype is now in development with an even lighter visual presence—appearing more structurally delicate, allowing greater transmission of light, yet retaining the support required of the design.

The ARC is the result of collaboration among artists, engineers, metal craftsmen, and woodworkers. Each discipline serves the same objective: to present the trophy with quiet distinction while preserving the tusks in their original condition.