Help Identify stone carved sea dragon

Lost on this piece. Seems at first to be Asian then I think "Pacific North West?"
The dragon is about 4" long 2" tall and a little over 3/4" wide. Weighs just 3 oz. smooth to the touch and solid. The photos are a little washed out and the stone is much darker. Almost black. Try to get a more color accurate photo on here. Any ideas on material, style, time period or its inherent magical properties?
Paul

 

Closer to Pacific North East .
It is a Chinese archaic style phoenix. Archaic style, not period.
The archaic style has been a Chinese favourite since the Sung dynasty (early Middle Ages), and who can blame them. They are still making these carvings. Here is something like it:
https://www.etsy.com/nl/listing/182253544/verkoop-30-korting-laat-shang-vroege?ref=market

The phoenix is symbol of yin, the female, etc. principle, the dragon of yang, the male, etc. principle.

 

Thanks again! I know its a tough call without actually handling it but do you recognize the stone its made from?

 

It reminds me a bit of black calcite. Some Chinese would call it jade of course.
But there are rock people on this forum, hope they will see it.

 

Lava??

 

Unlikely in China. There are volcanoes, but lava isn't a stone that is used traditionally, they wouldn't take the trouble to look for it.

 

The stone looks like basalt

 

Black stones that are popular for carving in China are black jade, black obsidian, black onyx and black soapstone. I don't see a resemblance to any of these stones, but I could be missing something.

 

I did a rough specific gravity test and it came out to 2.75. Will not scratch with steel. That would put it in the realm of onyx wouldn't it?

 

It would. Most would say onyx is striated calcite. Since it has no striation, it would be just calcite.

 

Onyx is not striated calcite,onyx is chalcedony.Calcite is soft and the OP said it didn't scratch with a steel blade.

 

You're right, checked it online, and the gemstonebooks I consulted turned out to be wrong. That was a first! Teaches me to look online more.
Still don't know what kind of stone it is.

 

I looked at oriental art auctions, they all call it 'black stone'.....
So, nothing definite, but that seems to be the term for your mystery stone.