Featured (stone?) pendant and chain

I don't think this is obsidian or jet. There's a definite green tinge, probably slightly more so than in my photos. There's no lustre or shine and nothing that looks crystalline to me.

 

Thank you, Roaring20s (you posted while I was writing my last message). The item you link to is certainly very similar to ours and the description is in line with Any Jewelry's input above. Searching for tumi and soapstone brings up a similar piece on a Pinterest page, too, and Worthpoint has this:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/peruvian-soapstone-tumi-knife-llama-1940283312

So far, I haven't seen another with a carved chain.

I'd be interested to know more about where and when this is likely to have been made.

 

where.......
This decorative item is shaped like the Peruvian ceremonial knife known as a Tumi and is often hung in houses in Peru as a symbol of good luck.

when......
impossible to say......other than not ancient ..

 

the seller calls this 1950's......... ?? I dunno......maybe your artist couldn't afford a silver chain........or saw these around and decided to carve a chain???

 

There doesn't seem to be much doubt about that, but Peru is one of the world's larger countries and it would be nice to narrow it down. Is the lightweight green soapstone a help?

Any Jewelry has pointed us toward the Chimú culture, but that still covers a loooong coastline (and of course anyone, anywhere can decide to cash in on the popularity of particular designs among tourists).

As a newbie here I certainly don't wish to be impolite, but I think you may be underestimating your fellow board members! I've no reason to think the piece is ancient, but even knowing whether it's more likely to be 1950s than 1980s -- for example -- would be interesting.

 

That's ok.
I'm sorry to offer up re-hashed information, and unhelpful comments......

It won't happen again.

 

Highly unlikely anyway, if not impossible. Obsidian and jet are both black and this isn't. Obsidian is never carved like this, and the carvers of Whitby are hardly going to waste their excellent jet on a Peruvian souvenir item.

 

It could be, but similar ones were still made in the 70s when I was there. I have several pieces with gold Tumis on chrysocolla or silver.

That must be it!

 

I think it is even more recent than 1980s. Probably this century.

 

I'm fairly sure that this was already gathering dust on a shelf in Germany before the present century began, but can't be 100% certain. Knowing it's from Peru, which I didn't when I started the thread, I'd guess my parents-in-law brought it back from a trip in the 1980s.

 

If they had the money to go to Peru from Germany, presumably they would have had the money to buy some real jewellery. Peru has hundreds, if not thousands, of very good jewellery shops.

 

That's true, of course, but if they did buy some nice jewellery then those items won't have been placed on my shelf of "stuff to find out about".