I believe most of such carvings, made of heavy ebony or African blackwood, are made by Makonde carvers in Tanzania and Mozambique....
With regard to the books, auction houses and estate sale organizers often don't have a good grasp of how to deal with large quantities of books....
If you can tell us where you are located, we may have better advice. ;)
It does look similar to a phi beta kappa key: [IMG]
You might try finding an archeologist (North American prehistory) at your local college, university or museum. Identifying lithics is a...
Sorry - not an intentional slight. :oops:
@Mark London
Well, I can't find another example. I am also rethinking the stuff inside the wooden beads - it might just be the natural pith of small wooden...
Great photos, Vesuvia, and excellent description of the metals used. I think the problem with a precise identification may be that such things...
Not saying it is, but it looks a lot like this one: [IMG]...
No worries. :) If we didn't want a certain amount of anonymity we would all just use our real names. I am still not sure about many of you...
The contents are probably some sort of "medicine", then, not any kind of scripture. No need to dig around in it further. The iron beads makes me...
Hello Vesuvia. It does look African, but I have not seen anything quite like it. It might be related to some types of North African amulet...
It might be helpful to try to determine the date of the photograph. What does the frame look like? What is the size of the photo? Can you unframe...
Looks like it might be Macassar ebony, which would be consistent with an Indonesian origin. https://www.wood-database.com/macassar-ebony/
Fancier blade, but the shape of the handle is the same. Described as a Hausa arm dagger, 14 1/4": [IMG]...
This one sold about a year ago on ebay. Looks like a relative of yours. [IMG]...
I would suggest looking at Hausa daggers.
Nice reference. "A sin-eater is a person who consumes a ritual meal in order to spiritually take on the sins of a deceased person. The food was...
Might the dark elements be leather? It reminds me of contemporary "Viking/Celtic" style jewelry that combines silver and black leather, or Sami...
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