Thanks for the comments gentlemen. Yes, i was quite surprised when i went to the sellers house to pick it up. The photos (i found this on Facebook marketplace) had no scale in them so i could not tell the actual size. It is a presentation piece so i guess they decided to make it a bit oversized for the occasion. I love the carving of the ox horn. It is simple, but elegant. There is a conservation of execution. Just enough form carved in place to bring the figure to life and no more.
I am a bit obsessed now with trying to find out more about it, but since the name of the person it was presented to is not on the blade it's sort of a dead end. Many of the kid's names that have been inscribed are just first names, but there are a few last names as well, but i'm not sure there are enough clues to figure out how it was gifted to and why. I do know that there are a lot of teachers in Canada who go up to the arctic and teach for a few years for the experience and then return home. My best guess is that the recipient was one of those.
