Featured Carved bone(?) or ivory(?) top container/trinket box?

I found this at the thrift today - my first thought was Inuit? It looks like carved bone or ivory?
One unusual thing - the felt lining inside has newspaper or magazine under it?
There are also little bumps throughout - as though it had something too big & pointy squeezed into it at one time?
Any idea what I have - and how old it may be?
Thank you!

 

Brass and bone, made in India most likely. I can't read the language on the newspaper, but it looks like an Indian language written in the Latin alphabet. The back of the carved bit shows dark spots (blood channels), where blood vessels went through the material. Ivory wouldn't have those.

 

Somehow the "blood channels" made my stomach turn...

 

Me too! lol
But glad to know what it is (although bottom not brass but metal or silver - maybe brown countertop or flash made it look this way)

 

Nickel silver would fit with India too, aka "white brass" an 80s trade name.

 

That particular velvet style lining is typically Indian.