help on a find............

[Dig-m-Deep]

This was bought a few months ago along with some steel crosses ... Not sure where it came from but the lady said one of her relatives brought it back from WWII..... I'm thinking Africa but friend says looks more like voodoo...any ideas?

 

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[tattooedmomma]

I dont know. But let me know if you want to sell it!!!

 

[AKiwi]

Looks like a knight templer thingy.......but then could be way off the mark....

 

[Dig-m-Deep]

I sent a couple pis and some info to the Museum of natural history in Houston, explaining it was carved stone and the info the lady gave me I bought it from.... Here is their reply..

The image has Christian iconography.

Then we have three items to work with:

Africa
End of WWII
American individual



One could very cautiously suggest that:

Africa may mean Morocco , Algeria or Tunisia. This is where US troops fought during WWII
The Christian iconography may be related to Christian presence in that area
This might mean pre-dating the arrival of Islam in that region ? i.e. before the middle of the 7th century AD (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tsis/hd_tsis.htm)
This could make it either Roman era or Byzantine era.
Alternatively we are looking at an object made in the mid-20th century.



This is all just a guess, based on the additional information provided.

 

[goldinmypan]

To start off, I know nothing of this item. Something I find interesting is that the image on front has open hands (peace) but the image on the rear has a sword and maybe a scroll. Like talk gently but carry a big stick.

 

[Red-Coat]

Just doing a bit of tidying up on some older threads, mainly for the benefit of anyone searching the site for information.

Interesting. I’m pretty sure this is a Coptic Christian carving and likely from Egypt, Sudan or Ethiopia. These are usually carved in ‘black stone’ as devotional items with depictions of saints or Madonna & child and other Christian iconography. No easy way to put a date to it (especially not just from photographs), but it could be anything from ancient to ‘tourist-ware’ from the beginning of the 20th century .