From the texture of the material, it looks like whalebone to me. I have worked with whalebone and with swordfish ( the last one is hollow and brittle and you can use it only stabilized, a pic of the end or the tip will help me to identify if it is swordfish) A norwegian friend is collecting whalebone on the beach front of his door and that piece looks like that material. Specialy the cracks.
My second opinion is giraffe or elephant bone. I have seen elephant bone with a wall thickness of 2 inch. And my aged giraffebone looks like the area of the guard. But in this case I think the carving would not be a fish (?)
I think nobody would use whale bone in this days for a tourist piece, maybe for a tourist some decades ago.
How long /thick is that piece ?
Best Thomas
|