Please help me identify this 2 inch by 1 inch wood carving

[azzaro]

It is so tiny, it is impossible for somebody for carve this or even see the carving in detail with the naked eye.It is round and hollow. No markings at all. It is quite light so I think it might be bamboo. I used the super-close-up lens on my canon camera to take the following 3 pics. 2nd pic is for scale only. Pic is twice the size of my hand and the piece. I found this piece at a flea market last weekend and was quite amazed by it so I bought it for $10.

Pic #1:



Pic #2:



Pic #3:

[ironlord1963]

    Wow, I just have to Say Nice item, and Thanks for posting it.  As I'm not going to be able to make much comments on the item, I so think you have a most wonderful item.  This would for sure be Tribal or Folk art of some kind.  I would only be guessing at the age, but sure looks old to me.  Someone spent some time on that piece.  I look forward to watching this thread, and once again thanks for posting.

[mariok54]

Very interesting piece. Nice find!
I'm not sure that it is bamboo, but it is impossible to tell from these photos. Are you sure that it's only 2" in length? Seems like it could be a wee bit longer from pic 2.

Any chance of an end-on photo?

[hosman321]

Really cool! I want to know what it is too. In pic 3, it appears that the big long thing with a face is a dragon? Chinese? Some kind of calendar?

[hosman321]

Year of the Wood Dragon? Just throwing ideas out there, by the way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_(zodiac)
Of course, the link will not work. So, when it says, "Did you Mean Dragon (Zodiac)?" click on the link.

[waywardangler]

The "dragon" looks to me more like a centipede/millipede and the etchings look like maybe from Africa or around that region. Hard to say what it is. The object is hollow but are both ends open or just one end?  It is definitely not bamboo. There a couple of surface scrapes that are not like bamboo would scrape. It may be a calendar as hosman suggested or possibly a counter for harvest? Clear pics of the outside showing all the etchings may be helpful.

The wood may be ebony or something similar.

[KC]

I also would like to see some end photos as mario54 stated earlier.  Please post!

Neat item......

[mart]

Looks like bone !!   

[hosman321]

You're right, it does look like horn maybe. Especially in the first picture.

[waywardangler]

  mart says it looks like bone and hosman says she is right it does look like horn? I must have missed something because bone and horn are not the same. It could be horn as it is hollow and dark but I do not think it is bone. If there were some better pics, especially of the end, then it could be determined what the material is.

It really resembles the barrel of a duck call. All that is missing is the mouthpiece.

[hosman321]

I just meant it looked like something other than wood. My bad, you know I'm bad at getting my words together properly.

[waywardangler]

Just wait until you get older and can't even remember the word(s) let alone get them together properly. 

[hosman321]

Oh, I'll just be a big ol' mess by then.

[azzaro]

Here are the pics. Yes, it is 2.75 inches by 1.5 inches at the widest and 1 inch at the narrowest. My mistake on earlier posts. I just bought a ruler and measured it. And yes, Horn could be the only thing that is so symmetrical.

Pic #1:



Pic #2:



Pic #3:



Pic #4:



Pic #5:

[ironlord1963]

Sure looks like bone to me.   The more I look at this I see a Celtic Design, and I would vote for some kind of Calender per say, Could be someone Check list, but with the amount of work on the decorations I would say something more sybolic, as a calender to help with season Growth maybe.  Anyway I just again want to thank you for sharing, Wonderful Item that I would of easily paid that for it.