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Message:: [QUOTE="DragonflyWink, post: 11045373, member: 111"]Can only ask if the collection was hidden away after the 18th century, so never added to after that, but being inherited insinuates that it was in family hands, and not stashed away in some museum vault. Can't say I see any obvious connection to Alaska, and frankly, sometimes a decorative motif is just that, without tribal meaning. To my eye, the spoon's bowl appears to have considerable wear from use over many years, would especially expect that if a fairly large spoon used for stirring and scraping when cooking or serving.  No size given, but might guess if your hand is an average male's, the spoon is perhaps around 9"/23cm long? Perhaps their response will shed more light. Have very little doubt that it's mammoth ivory, and since Irkutsk is mentioned as where it was bought, have to wonder why Alaska would be a more likely place of origin than Siberia. Personally, it looks to me like a repair, the 'tipped' element at the top back of the spoon commonly found on 'Old English' and 'Fiddle' patterns from the mid-late 18th century onward, regardless, the silver could have been added at any time.   My own guess would be of Yakut origin, similar to those at a Finnish museum, posted below: [ATTACH=full]535466[/ATTACH] ~Cheryl[/QUOTE]