Tangential comment:
I've seen lots of pictures of older pistols, mostly 'sixguns,' with ivory, elk, or stag grips, and they usually look pretty nice. Sadly, the real thing is out of my price range -- or more accurately, hard to justify given my finances (maybe if I had an original Colt SAA I'd save up for a set) -- and I find most of the synthetics just look too plastic for my tastes.