#4.....Ethnographic Give a Way.....

These are all keepers and much appreciated. The above is about as effusive as I ever get. No apologies as I really like and appreciate winning "this" lot.

P.S.
I have been trying to research the alligator carving but not coming up with anything conclusive. My gut reaction is that this is older and from Southeastern US and not an import. I am finding a few Florida souvenirs with similarities. This handle on a Florida spoon/ladle is the closest I have found. It is on our own dragonflywink's blog.



http://the-daily-antique-show.blogspot.com/

 

if i remember , it came in an eclectic box lot , out of upstate NY, from a high end african and NA collection.
The pottery mud man ? too.

 

Brad, now I'm wondering how komokwa got your address, since you didn't give it to him. I guess Santa has his secrets!

 

Not guilty, and possibly just as well; otherwise my mother might be sending a crate your way and I'd come home to an empty house.(LOL) The pottery dude looks like he's meant to hang on a planter or the edge of some other pot. They make resin ones in all shapes and sizes.

 

" I have powers even Enoch does not suspect , beloved."

( no picture this time !! ...hehe!! )

 

At first I thought it might have come off a Cochiti storyteller.....but his dance movement is so strong that I suspect he was involved in a diorama of some sort..
Imho.....he's old.
Or at least......hahaha......vintage !
& may just be the gem of the lot !

 

That was one heck of a group to give away, Komo! Congrats to Brad!

 

Thank you Bakers.
Like I said...my way of being a not so secret santa....

& thank you Brad , for your swell comments.

 

Have tried to research the little pottery figure. There are some similarities to the Cochiti figures but some things don't match. The pointed head, body paint, and the loin-cloth are all different. The Cochiti dance figures all seem to be wearing antlers or horns. The long loin-cloth on this figure makes me think South of the border but have not been able to come up with anything.

 

It might be further south...but that orange black and beige makes me stay north of rio grand.....
You find a match......please post it !

 

Heh, the very short-lived blog - amazing, the number of emails that come my way from those few posts... 2010 was a miserable year, filled almost to the end with problems - started the blog to get my mind off what had already happened, but then things just kept getting worse and didn't have the time or heart to keep going.

The gator looks like it might be a handle to a letter knife or something - and it looks late 19th-early 20th century American to me too, most likely orange wood, which is freakishly hard. My Mom lost her venerable old navel orange tree to the dreaded greening disease a few years ago, and last year I used an old branch to make beaded suncatchers for her and my brothers, started off with a good hacksaw blade, but had to use my oscillating tool to get through the small branch. My brother just cut off the trunk when he came down for Mom's birthday on Halloween - only brought a small electric chainsaw since the trunk was only about 8" in diameter, took him forever to get through (told him the wood was hard!). Anyway, I have Larry Roberts' book on Florida souvenirs, but apparently it's packed away at the moment, since I can't seem to find it - my ladle has carving almost identical to a couple of other pieces in the book, enough so that I'd bet they were done by the same carver. I've seen these gator carvings marked with tourist-town names from as far north as New Jersey - suspect most, if not all, were coming out of the Jacksonville area, and sold by wholesalers to other locations. For comparison of the wood, the pic below is orange wood after a light sanding with a bit of the the thin bark remaining and a matte-finish varnish applied.

Don't really 'collect', but have gathered quite a few Dala horses over the years - agree that this one looks to have some age...



~Cheryl

 

Thanks for stopping in and confirming my thoughts. After I posted the above about it possibly being a fan handle, it did occur to me that it might have been a letter knife as well. The wood does look kike it could be orange tree wood.

 

I thought it could be a tamper...of some sort !