[Lee]

The condition of the silver appears unremarkable to me. I have a similar example before me, two decades out of the Sahara environment with brightness remaining to a good degree in many of the engraving cuts. My example was not new when I acquired it in Agadez. It may be that they do not use the sorts of silver polish that we do and that there is not much sulfur in the environment. (Silver stays bright without polishing where I live today, as well.) Now and then one of these might have been outside during a sandstorm and received a bit of a sandblasting as well. (I have read of the paint being removed from vehicles caught outside in such a storm.) I was also told that leatherwork could come to look very old after just about five years use in that environment. Age of our examples? - maybe 1980s to 1990s.

I have seen "the bird" before, but do not know its significance.