Featured Alaskan mask carvings

I got this from a guy who said he lived in Alaska but that he got it from a guy who got it from a guy... so ... he didn't know where it originally came from.

The board is 9" x 12.5" and looks like cedar. No markings on the back.

Thank you in advance.

@komokwa
@Mark London

 

those look like nice miniature Alaska mask carvings , to me.
Same artist for both.
They look to have honest age......but how old ?

r they glued to the board?
it would be nice to see the backs.

 

Outside my wheelhouse

 

mine as well......but still inside the ballpark !!

 

Yeah-- they're glued to the board...

Interesting 'pegs' holding the feathers in place.

 

hummmmmmmmm.......I can't help thinking the the pegs across the forehead look newer that the ones holding the feathers.

the metal spike treatment to secure the feathers is unusual to me....but they do look original to the masks...... that and the close up of the wood carvings is making me think the masks could well be over 100 years old.

 

can u provide sizes of the masks themselves... without pegs or feathers..

 

Yeah-- they're about 3.5" each:

 

more research needed............

 

Real presence to that one!

The features are kinda reversed on mine.

 

yup.....they say 19th century....

I show it only to confirm yours are ...at the very least..... Alaskan style !

Your miniature sizes , are of concern to me at present......
and whomever glued them to a plank........ is a twerp !

 

the rear of any mask.....can be as telling as the front !!!!!!

 

Is using lighter fluid to soften the glue a good idea?
I have used it on vulnerable antique keris hilts without a problem, no staining, nothing.

 

Honestly I assumed that the masks mounted on the board were done by the same artisan, at roughly the same time... it didn't occur to me that they could be older and someone made the weak choice to glue them to a cedar board.

 

Still have this piece. It's a keeper. I thought I'd use this Friday night's dramatic lighting to 'bump' this thread.

Simply curious of any other comments.

Thanks in advance.

 

lol, you are a stronger person than me Pottery, the temptation to try and loosen them so you can see the back would have won out by this time