I have an item that I was told is a very old and rare effigy pipe...but not sure what it is.
Does anyone have any infomation they could share about it....
Thanks so much!
ncmom
Hello..I hope someone here can help me and tell me what this is....Unfortunately I don't know much about it and I apologize for that. It appears to be made out of clay,pottery or possibly stone...but I not sure which or if either of them. This effigy belonged to my uncle. He was a world traveler for many years and collected many items in his life time from his travels and many experiences...he just about did it all when it comes to experiences & adventures... but his most beloved experiences were on excavation sites in Kentucky & Ohio as he loved hunting for artifacts...I wonder if this effigy may have come from Kentucky or Ohio since he spent a lot of time there excavating over the years...but I don't know. He was a very educated man who loved putting his hands in the earth and reading...he lived a full life.
I "very surprisingly" inherited his elaborate and extensive collections...he never married, nor had any children.....I was an only child and he & I were close but I never dreamed he would leave his collections to me..perhaps it was because I was the only one who ever took interest in it and asked questions when he came home...guess I will never know why....but anyway...Now I have the job of going through all his collections and sorting them out into categories...which is going to be a big job and very time consuming....I will be listing things often as I go through everything.
I found this unusual & beautiful effigy wrapped up inside a wooden box...I thought it was so interesting and unique..I have never seen anything like it. It's an awesome piece!
I truly, truly feel this old effigy is completely authentic and a rare artifact but I can not say I am 100% sure because I don't "personally know myself for sure"...BUT I am 100% sure that my uncle would not have anything in his home and in his collections unless it was authentic. As he was meticulous when it come to his collections which he took very serious.
This item depicts & has an alligator head at the front of it...Top of the alligator's head is what I would call "red clay brown" in color....the alligator's mouth and eyes are carved out slightly to look open..there are tiny holes for the nose holes and there is a tiny hole in the front of the mouth. Then moving on up it seems to take on another form along with the alligator head and body...the form of a person with legs and arms (arms are over their tucked up legs...the arm at the wrist has what appears to be a piece of jewelry, possibly a bracelet) it looks as though the person is sitting on top of the alligator's body...the person has a hole in the center of their belly or chest ...the hole is green around the outer edge of it....between the alligator's head and the persons belly area there is a raised oval section which is green in color with a dot behind it which appears to be white in color....The persons head is very detailed with decoration on their head and also at each side of the face...the face is also very detailed as in the features of the face..the eyes, nose and mouth are quite precise and detailed. The back side of the persons head is almost flat and there is a rounded smooth curve between the head and the larger object behind the head....this larger object has a squash or gourd shape to it and on top it is the same color of what I call "red clay brown" as is the color of the alligators head. This larger object has 5 holes...2 holes on one side and 1 hole on the other side...there is also a square shaped hole which is located on front across from back of the persons head. The last and 5th hole is located on top of this larger object which is a very thin and small hole with a horizontal shape to it. There are 8 indentions or grooves on back and bottom of this larger object at the end it.....the indentions are in between raised lines which start at mid section and continue on to bottom of it.
Bottom is in the shape of an alligator until you get to the other end where it rounds out some what.
You can hear something inside it moving around but I can not see what it is...so that is a mystery.
The only thing I see missing from this item is the right hand as it has broken off at some time but the arm remains intact...the item was missing a hand when I received it. But other than the arm missing....I don't see anything else missing...nothing else is broken and in very nice condition.
It appears to have old dirt or clay on it which I did not remove.
The dirt or clay I am speaking of has that dug out the earth look to it...but the dirt or clay is clearly very, very old and been on it for some time.
Thanks so much!
Does anyone have any infomation they could share about it....
Thanks so much!
ncmom
Hello..I hope someone here can help me and tell me what this is....Unfortunately I don't know much about it and I apologize for that. It appears to be made out of clay,pottery or possibly stone...but I not sure which or if either of them. This effigy belonged to my uncle. He was a world traveler for many years and collected many items in his life time from his travels and many experiences...he just about did it all when it comes to experiences & adventures... but his most beloved experiences were on excavation sites in Kentucky & Ohio as he loved hunting for artifacts...I wonder if this effigy may have come from Kentucky or Ohio since he spent a lot of time there excavating over the years...but I don't know. He was a very educated man who loved putting his hands in the earth and reading...he lived a full life.
I "very surprisingly" inherited his elaborate and extensive collections...he never married, nor had any children.....I was an only child and he & I were close but I never dreamed he would leave his collections to me..perhaps it was because I was the only one who ever took interest in it and asked questions when he came home...guess I will never know why....but anyway...Now I have the job of going through all his collections and sorting them out into categories...which is going to be a big job and very time consuming....I will be listing things often as I go through everything.
I found this unusual & beautiful effigy wrapped up inside a wooden box...I thought it was so interesting and unique..I have never seen anything like it. It's an awesome piece!
I truly, truly feel this old effigy is completely authentic and a rare artifact but I can not say I am 100% sure because I don't "personally know myself for sure"...BUT I am 100% sure that my uncle would not have anything in his home and in his collections unless it was authentic. As he was meticulous when it come to his collections which he took very serious.
This item depicts & has an alligator head at the front of it...Top of the alligator's head is what I would call "red clay brown" in color....the alligator's mouth and eyes are carved out slightly to look open..there are tiny holes for the nose holes and there is a tiny hole in the front of the mouth. Then moving on up it seems to take on another form along with the alligator head and body...the form of a person with legs and arms (arms are over their tucked up legs...the arm at the wrist has what appears to be a piece of jewelry, possibly a bracelet) it looks as though the person is sitting on top of the alligator's body...the person has a hole in the center of their belly or chest ...the hole is green around the outer edge of it....between the alligator's head and the persons belly area there is a raised oval section which is green in color with a dot behind it which appears to be white in color....The persons head is very detailed with decoration on their head and also at each side of the face...the face is also very detailed as in the features of the face..the eyes, nose and mouth are quite precise and detailed. The back side of the persons head is almost flat and there is a rounded smooth curve between the head and the larger object behind the head....this larger object has a squash or gourd shape to it and on top it is the same color of what I call "red clay brown" as is the color of the alligators head. This larger object has 5 holes...2 holes on one side and 1 hole on the other side...there is also a square shaped hole which is located on front across from back of the persons head. The last and 5th hole is located on top of this larger object which is a very thin and small hole with a horizontal shape to it. There are 8 indentions or grooves on back and bottom of this larger object at the end it.....the indentions are in between raised lines which start at mid section and continue on to bottom of it.
Bottom is in the shape of an alligator until you get to the other end where it rounds out some what.
You can hear something inside it moving around but I can not see what it is...so that is a mystery.
The only thing I see missing from this item is the right hand as it has broken off at some time but the arm remains intact...the item was missing a hand when I received it. But other than the arm missing....I don't see anything else missing...nothing else is broken and in very nice condition.
It appears to have old dirt or clay on it which I did not remove.
The dirt or clay I am speaking of has that dug out the earth look to it...but the dirt or clay is clearly very, very old and been on it for some time.
Thanks so much!
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