Featured Double walrus pen holder, carved Ivory...........

I'd believe Mark London on this. They are walrus, not otters. Otters don't have tusks, short or otherwise.
I'm not an ivory expert, but I've seen and own enough ivory walrus and otters to recognize these as walrus, and native-made, not sailor-made.
No opinion on original use, but I suspect repurposed and not originally a pen-holder.
It certainly is a cool piece!

 

very cool piece komokwa

 

agree, because upon closer inspection, I thought the carving could be interpreted as low hanging whiskers of a sea lion, but there is a definite carved 'lip'
... so tusk, not a whisker extending down. Whiskers obviously don't curve 'under' the lip. My bad.

 

too bad the tusks are broken off....which is odd cuz u wouldn't expect all 4 to get damaged...being the ivory is tough...and they were not long to begin with...

I can't see where any rope of leather would have been used in the holes...that taper downwards...and show no sign smoothing from wear..

 

maybe it's only a 'little' broken off, i.e., the thickness of the original ivory had to limit the length ... so maybe on the same plane as the flippers. so it would have sat flat anyway?

 

Beautiful piece Tomo.
By the way-Anybody have any free,authenticated Taino pieces they want to give away ?