Featured Stoned Bare naked Bear (click bate :) )

, sorry for the title, just couldn’t resist. Well, Good morning all and Happy Thanksgiving, to all that celebrate.

***not sure which forum this falls under as it is not ceramic or porcelain, metalware or antique(to the best of my knowledge). Admin please move if in wrong forum.

Love my new friend, coming in at @ hefty 17.5 lbs, wow, and about the size of a football(American) 11”X7”. This is a keeper for me as I just couldn't part with the fella. I really would like to know anything I can as to type of stone, possible origin, native? etc etc etc... highly polished cold to the touch. Cant not find one similar, yes a few stone bears out there but none looking even close to him/her(I haven’t looked ). Front left paw is slightly raised off the ground and has an excessive amount of scratches underneath or possibly signature, just looks gibberish to me.

thanks all for looking.

 

I suspect Alaskan First Nations.

 

[Edit: read too quickly; see you knew this. 'Tribal' is where these things usually go.] This is stone, not ceramic. Looks rather like basalt to me, but think there will be other, better informed opinions on that. @komokwa @Taupou

 

Not really my area, but I am familiar with the Chinese imported stone fetish carvings that have flooded the Southwest market recently. And there's something about the way the eyes are done here that would make me suspicious.

I don't know if the Chinese have been making fake First Nations carvings, as well. But komokwa would probably know.

 

I do , but I'm not sayin...so I'll reach out to @Mark London ..........

he'll say it better !

 

Either Alaskan or Chinese meant for the Alaskan souvenir market.

 

As always I appreciate everyone’s knowledge. Just curious, how profitable making 17lbs souvenirs can be with shipping and all, and why there are none to be found online elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, I respect and agree with information, just curious. Bought at auction for $1 so didn’t think for a second it was a lost treasure. Just a friend to hang out in my office.

 

I don't know so much about bears; but the Chinese have indeed been making fake First Nation totem pole carvings; copied from Haida argillite totempoles... two recently seen on ebay were identifiable because they used a mottled black stone, while argillite is pure black; and by stylistic details of course.
Highly profitable, because argillite carvings sell for around $100 per inch, and up.

 

while argillite is pure black........ummmmmmmmmmmmm... not always...

older carvings were sometimes shoe polished..to get that jet black shiny color...
( personal conversation with Haida carver..)

side note...I've had Donovan Gates carvings with while and orange lines running thru them..

 

Sure....but not uniformly mottled with white like the Chinese carvings I was thinking of. They've also found a nice uniform black stone that looks a whole lot like argillite, so appearance of the stone, alone, is not much of a guide.... style though, is harder to fake. But really experience is the best guide of course.
( I've had a nice conversation with Christian White, describing in detail the climb up to the argillite beds, and coming back down with a 40-pound pack of rock on one's back - one can see why it is a fairly rare material)

 

Cool !!!!
Only the Haida are allowed on Slatechuck Mountain..

 

Oh yes. It is apparently a perilous hike. Sometimes the older carvers will pay/bribe/trade with younger ones to carry the packs of rock.
This is one of the carvings I was thinking of; years back I had a semi-friendly discussion with one of the importers of Indonesian NW Coast style wood carvings; he was kind of proud of his ability to bring low-priced "replicas" to consumers, and said with some pride that he'd found a Chinese source for argillite-like stone carvings. I would not mistake this stone for argillite.
on eboo at https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-To...504869?hash=item1cfae6a925:g:QloAAOSwYkxfhy3M

 

what a mess.......that's very sad !!!!