Featured Inuit? or Other Northern Peoples' Hair Ornament

Sorry,you are wrong,it's American holly wood.

 

photos can fool ya....your lighting makes it look like a smooth clean bone !

Is the quarter real ????

 

Real for you,but most U.S. banks don't accept them.

 

Unfortunately, Maori items are faked even more than NA items nowadays. The surf crowd love them, as does just about anyone else. China churns out fake Maori jades by the shipload.
The negative impact on Maori culture and artists is the same as it is on NA culture and artists, of course.

 

As always I am honored that the members of this forum take the time to look at my items, consider them and craft their replies sometimes with incredible knowledge and details. I so much appreciate it.

 

Just another amusing note; this could as well be in the "Laughable Eboo listings" thread. I haven't found the specific hairpin from OPs first post; but I did find this from one of the ebay sellers who consistently sells imports as real. Most of the import pendant designs can also be found on the hairpins; commonly turtles, fish, whale tails; along with actual traditional Indonesian designs….and Eskimo ones.
This pendant is oddly like OPs hairpin; but note the description "Vintage Carved Bovine Inuit Eskimo Shaman Fetish Effigy Totem Pendant": https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Ca...579908?hash=item3656fbda04:g:IosAAOSwXzBdvK0M

Of course it isn't any of those things.....but one clue is the word "bovine." Imagine one were to find a collection of 60 or 100 little carvings, presumably bone....how would one know they were bovine? Surprise; the online catalogs of beading importers generally use the word bovine in the descriptions of bone items, mentioning Indonesian or Chinese cow or water buffalo bone; but I figure that any listing that mentions bovine bone is likely not real Eskimo, Inuit, vintage, Shaman's...…

 

& why would they at the current exchange rate......
but I remember when the Loonie was worth $ 1.06 US.......& every store in the US within 100 miles of the US Border was glad to accept Can $$$..
but that was then..........

 

True enough, but one most also remember that, since the eBay ban on ivory, numerous unscrupulous sellers intentionally label their ivory items as bovine in order to sneak their items past the "ivory bots".

 

True also.

 

In Bali it is often cow bone, a by-product of the numerous tourist restaurants.

 

You do have to wonder what happens when someone buys cow bone expecting something else and gets... cow bone. (LOL)