Featured Japanese lacquered case, purpose?

@komokwa do you mean Lepidochelys kempii

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemp's_ridley_sea_turtle

or Orlitia borneensis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_giant_turtle ?

 

I'm going to let this stand instead of trying to sort out my confusion. . .now that I've read all the posts I see that someone must have mislead you, Komokwa. . .then I got mislead. . .it is late, I am tired. . .lol

 

To the best of my knowledge....& I am no expert.....but the shell that ya can't sell cuz most of the critters are in hell....& the primary source of material for what we call Tortoise Shell items...is the Hawksbill Sea Turtle.....

The hawksbill sea turtle is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus Eretmochelys. The species has a worldwide distribution, with Atlantic and Indo-Pacific subspecies—E. i. imbricata and E. i. bissa, respectively.

It's shell is highly prized because of it's beauty, size ( adults r BIG..) , and ability to work into various objects.



This photo I found may indeed have the right color and blotch scheme to be a reasonable match for the OP's cigar holder........but I can't say ...for sure !

 

Sweet, I want one.

Uhmm...

 

Stained horn does, it is stained with spots and blotches to resemble tortoiseshell.

 

beautiful and it looks like so details

 

I know. The designs were made in maki-e lacquer, which is made by sprinkling gold dust on lacquer-painted designs, and on the front takamaki-e, which is raised lacquer.
Making takamaki-e is very time-comsuming, it is applied layer by layer using lacquer, metal powder, charcoal, and powdered clay. Every layer had to dry and be polished before the next was applied.

Thank you everyone for your input, I appreciate it.

 

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