Lucky eBay spot. I'm hoping this is Boars tusk?. I can't see any cross hatching that would indicate Ivory but WDIK!. Clasp is stamped 9ct (so English clasp?) and the tusks are stamped 18k ( so foreign?) I don't know about the chain yet. Please tell me about it . when was this popular?. It's quite small and wouldn't quite go round my neck (don't judge ) so child's/petite person or from an age when people had smaller necks!. Thankyou
If you hadn't said gold, and the length, I'd have initially said 1980s: these got wildly reproduced then. The length suggests at least 1920s, and I think it may be earlier than that. I'm thinking the tusk part at least came from India and the chains wree added here.
Somewhere I have a similar neck piece, except it has silver findings instead of gold, and two little chain links joining the two tusks, with a silver mounted turquoise pendant hanging from the bottom chain. If it's any help, I purchased it in American Samoa, in 1971. And yes, I was told at the time that it was made from boar's tusk. All I know is that they were widely found in the South Pacific in the early 1970s. I know they were sold in Tahiti, Samoa, and Fiji. Where, specifically, they were made, however, I can't positively state. But I've seen a few over the years since, showing up at antiques shows and shops. Usually plain, like yours, without the turquoise pendant.
I used to have a Pacific boar tusk necklace too, bought new in the 70s. K, I would guess yours is from the Pacific as well, with the 18k stamp, the British clasp has to be a replacement. It happens. Boars are not the prettiest animals, but their tusks can be made into elegant chokers.
Thankyou Thankyou Another one of my random acquisitions!. Ergonomically designed to sit round ones neck!
I apologize, I thought I had replied earlier, but apparently it didn't get posted. But no, my necklace is the same boar's tusk, but the pendant is different. It's colored more like a Royston turquoise, set in a plain silver bezel with a simple oval pendant shape, suspended from the lower of two chain links (rather than one) that connects the two tusks. It's marked SIL on one tusk, 915 on the other. I've never been able to determine exactly what that means. And yes, it's very short. It would be a "choker" for sure, if the average person tried to wear it. So it's been packed away with "stuff to deal with sometime" for years!
I don't think it would say SIL if made in Spain. I've usually seen that on some British and Commonwealth stuff.
