Small bone carving being called Inuit

Whale bone? Inuit, Eskimo, or something totally different?
Would it have been used for something in particular or just a little tourist trinket? 5” long

 

Limestone?

 

I would expect whale bone to have a more evenly porous appearance. And it looks like there might be some shell inclusions on the top, back of the head. So say_it may be right that it is limestone.

 

It has the appearance of a pumice stone carving. Pumice is volcanic, unlike limestone, which is sedimentary, and relatively soft and lighter in weight.

 

Exactly! To clarify it was described as whale bone by the seller and I was skeptical of that description. I figured it could be a certain bone within a whale that had a different quality though so wasn’t sure. Would Inuit have access to limestone or pumice stone does anyone know? Does the carving look Inuit to anyone?

Edit: this photo is what I would expect from whale bone that I’m familiar with.

 

...It reminds me more of little pre-Columbian faces than anything else I’ve seen.

 

I did see a couple Maori limestone carvings in a search I believe.

edit: spelling

 

Pumice stone is found in Mount Meager Canada, Oregon and Washington,hard to say where pieces traveled to though.

 

To me, it does not look inuit...or look like a whale bone carving.

 

Maori and Moai are two separate, unrelated things. Moai are the Easter Island (Rapanui) carvings of heads. Maori are the Polynesian culture from New Zealand. And to add to the confusion, moari, is a Maori game or sport that involves swinging on ropes from a high tree or post (the moari) and dropping off out over the water.

 

Pumice stone is found all over the world, wherever there are, or were, volcanic explosions, which includes locations in North and South America, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific.

Underwater volcanic explosions as recent as August, 2019, sometimes release huge "rafts" of pumice, which float to the top, and drift the seas. In this case, it is expected to end up on the coast of Australia. So it is not unusual for pumice carvings to be found in Rapinui, Alaska, or Bali.

Pumice is the rock that floats, so if you want to determine what the material is, stick it in water.

 

Now I want to follow the floating pumice! I don’t own this piece but I’ll ask the seller if they would mind putting it in water.

 

that's a sound pumice premise... !!! Perhaps !

 

It has promise!

 

Agreed; not whale bone. Looks Oceania/Islander.