Featured Inuit? or Other Northern Peoples' Hair Ornament

My question is whether this hair ornament made of polished antler is a piece of wearable art or tourist tat. It is a little over 6 inches and is slightly bowed. There is no sign of wear or use. I guessed Inuit because of the clothing but I really have no clue.
Perhaps @komokwa might want to weigh in but any comments will be appreciated.

 

Looks good to me, never seen anything like this - could it be Lapp as well as Inuit?

 

Thank you blooey. I was hoping it was something carved for someone to use. We don't get much northern stuff down here is Southern California, but I thought it had charm and function rather than being cranked for passing tourists. I have enough of that kind of stuff, as I am often a tourist. Years ago, I started looking for things made within a culture rather than export.

 

I love it, that face really makes me smile. And that jolly posture, a little dancer maybe? The material looks like deer antler, or something similar.
Maybe Arctic Siberia, with that long dress? Chukchi and related peoples?

 

It's a lovely piece of folk art whether sold as tourist art or not. You can tell it has a load of heart.

Interestingly, when I was running the west coast 30 years ago, I turned up quite a bit of "Northern stuff" in the Bay area flea markets, especially around Bezerkely.

 

not something I'm terribly familiar with......
but not Inuit....so I'd look at an Alaskan Eskimo early tourist item made for the influx of white visitors circa early 1900's....

 

https://www.icollector.com/Eskimo-Artifact-Collection_i25113531

but I can't confirm the validity...

 

@Mark London ....... anything u know about ..????

 

No idea, but I'd wear that!

 

I'm a little concerned that OP's item looks so much like Komo's third item.
Recently, or for the last 30 years, take your pick, there has been a thriving cottage industry in Indonesia, and hairpin-type items with "native" imagery are one of their specialties. Hand carved from local bovine bone, stained with tea, they look a whole lot like OP's…..I'll see if I can find a current example of this type in one of the import catalogs.

 

your concern is justified , what with all the bone carvings we see out there from the last 10 years to late last Friday !!
& with the pic I found from 2016.....to see a copy show up here 3 years later.....that's no stretch...

 

& ya....the staining looks forced....

 

For comparison:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Three-Indo...141817?hash=item56c577abf9:g:hVEAAOSwYPNc7t08

and I suspect enough searching would find an exact match. Sorry, but HOH beads for one has been selling bone hairpins with native themes by the thousands, and a number of ebay sellers are fond of listing them as native-made. I'm afraid my opinion is that it is an import.

 

She made me smile too. Thanks for the search terms. While I don't think this is a unique thing, I'm hopeful that it isn't a mass created product. As always, I appreciate your answers.

 

Thanks so much for this Blooey. I have brought things from the North as part of my cherished items, so when I die they will sift out into the Southern California market.

 

Komo. You are terrrific for finding this source. I'm sorry I posted and ran, and hadn't seen your response until now. I so appreciate the search terms. I had no idea where to start. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

 

Thanks for asking him. Maybe he can add something.

 

Evelyn. How thoughtful for you to say that. I have baby fine hair, so it would just flop out of mine.

 

All fakes. Thanks so much for checking. I presume it was antler because there are a lot of antlers lying around up North to make things from, and because the edge on the back top looks like unfinished antler. But this certainly could be bone stained by tea. It is highly polished, whatever it is. I appreciate your thoughts and insights.

 

Komo. I appreciate that you can see both sides of this. It's funny about how this works. When I was in China, people complained about cheap Korean goods. When I posted this, I was looking for clues on how to assess such things if I was lucky enough to run across something of real interest. Thanks for taking the time to comment.