this is very unique spatula (I think)

[larson1951]

found a few yrs ago
I think this was made to make pottery
for smoothing the inside and outside of large basket ball sized pots made of clay in the traditional upper mid west style
this piece has a really nice polish to it, I mean very shiny
anybody else find anything like this before

 

[SoIll]

Wow and no. I don't think hardly anyone finds stuff like that.

 

[Likely Guy]

I'll reiterate, 'Wow' and 'no'.

But in the 8th grade pottery classes I used one very similar. Of course, not as nice or as old.

Made of bone? With that polish your theory makes sense.

 

[pegleglooker]

hey gang,
Not being a pottery person, how does one know for sure that this was used for pottery ?? I mean to me it looks kinda like a boot horn, or a cooking tool as well.
- I'm just asking-

PLL

 

[Likely Guy]

Here's one, my guess is a whalebone corset stay.

Sorry about the dirty picture, but you get the drift?

 

[larson1951]

Hi Peg, and all, thanks for your input, it is what I am looking for
we know that the smaller, standard size spatulas were used for pottery or called 'quill flatteners' for preparation of pocupine quills for dye and then incorporating into decorative items like moccasins and other clothing
since this one fits the radius or curve of a bigger basket ball size pot it made me think of this:
most of the pots made were the size of basket balls or soccer balls,
the indians did not wear boots, so why would they need a boot horn?
as far as cooking goes, it could be, but they already had spoons of very high quality and I mean very nice and well made
and more suited to the job, but it could be a possibility

 

[Likely Guy]

Any history to it? Other than 'found a few years ago'?

 

[larson1951]

I have no history on this piece if you look at one end of it you can see that one end was sticking out of the ground,
I had to dig it out of the ground

only about an inch or so was visible, the rest had never been exposed to the weather yet