When shopping Value Village (or "The Village" as some bloggers call it!) months ago, I found these three items in a bag for $1.99:
I thought the lioness especially would look good in my printer's tray of small knick knacks.
Were they plastic? Nope.
Were they wood? Nope.
Probably bone ... but perhaps maybe ivory?
To me they look African - obviously the animals depicted - a giraffe, lioness and elephant are of African origin, but that doesn't mean these were MADE there. There are no labels or maker's marks. The rough bottom and hand-carved look suggests perhaps these were trinkets for the tourist trade. African ivory - if these are indeed ivory (elephant tusk) is much harder than Asian, therefore it makes sense that these are more crudely carved than the delicate and intricate carvings you'd see in Chinese ivory pieces, for example.
It has me stumped as I haven't been able to find any similar figurines online... which is usually the first thing I do when I pick up something I don't know much about; Googling images to find sites where I can research an item I have found.
But these? Nothing. Nada.
I was able to find numerous articles such as a Wiki-How article on how to tell ivory from bone which state "Cross hatching (roughly diamond shaped cross hatching) is a good indication that the material is ivory, as are translucent wavy lines." Am I imagining cross-hatching here? What do you think? (Click to enlarge)
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| The colouring here on the giraffe has me puzzled... |
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| A closer look at the giraffe's base |
I still wonder what the story is about where they are from and who could have made them.
And, if they are indeed ivory, how the heck they wound up at "The Village" for a mere $1.99 for all three...
I have a black elephant just like your white one. It was my father's when he was a child. It used to have two ivory tusks. At some point when he played with it, it lost one. At some point when I was a child playing with it, it lost the other. Does yours look like it has two holes for tusks? I am not certain of the composition of them.
ReplyDeleteSmiles,
JoeyLea
Oh, I shall have to look more closely when I get home tonight and let you know, thanks!
DeleteMy first thought was resin figurines.
ReplyDeleteThey are quite heavy. And cold to the touch, so they aren't plastic - and when looking closer, it looks like there is an ivory nerve hole on the giraffe's neck...
DeleteI love a good mystery. Not sure about the composition either because sometimes you have to go by the weight and feel. My first thought was also some type of resin, but not sure. They're really interesting and a great bargain at $1.99.
ReplyDeleteI like mysteries too! I even have a magnifying glass (just like my favorite sleuth William Murdock ;) ), so I used it and discovered what looks like a nerve hole on the giraffe's neck! So I am leaning towards them in fact being ivory.
DeleteThey do look like Ivory, or some kind of horn...probably souvenirs of some ones trip to Africa...great find!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was thinking... I do like how they look in my miscellaneous collection of "smalls". Thanks Dagmar!
DeleteIf The Village is anything like our Goodwill (they get donations of items people don't want), then they could be anything. The people who put items out at those stores often do not know if they have something nice. I picked up a 14k black hills gold necklace one day for $2 and a beautiful blue egg from denmark for 10 cents.
ReplyDeleteWow Emily! Wonderful finds! You never know what you'll discover there ... which is part of the fun, I guess! Well done!
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