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Message:: [QUOTE="2manybooks, post: 4116753, member: 8267"]I have been puzzling over this item. Ideally, I would like to see an in-focus series of photos that show the front of the case closed, the full case with the top flap opened, then with the second flap opened, and then the third flap opened, so we can see the structure and decorations clearly and in context. The close up views are not really helpful in understanding the piece, although good views of the decorated flaps would be helpful if well lit and in focus enough to see the designs. That said, I agree that the leatherwork looks North African. The flap decorated with green and red dyes and circles definitely fits a North African style. But another flap  appears to have a scroll design that I would not associate with North African work. The one photo that shows that decoration, though, is too blurry to be sure. It certainly looks like it was designed to be looped over a belt. We have been assuming that the case is for a knife. But there is no space for a knife handle and no way to easily withdraw one. This limits the options to a folding knife, which is unusual in an ethnographic context. Perhaps our search might be more fruitful if we broaden our thinking to include a use other than for a knife. Perhaps it is for a whetstone, for example, or for something completely different.[/QUOTE]