Swordfish sword ?

[thinreadline]

'Fished' this out of my heap recently and thought I would ask if anyone had any thoughts on where it came from and what it is made from .
It appears to be made from bone of some kind and with the image on one side I wondered if that referred to either a sawfish or a swordfish . It is 18 inches long ... I assume this is some kind of tourist piece ?

[Tim Simmons]

It certainly looks like a Istiophoridae bill. I should be the last person to say that this really does look like a tourist piece. It does but look that functional.

[thinreadline]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

It certainly looks like a Istiophoridae bill. I should be the last person to say that this really does look like a tourist piece. It does but look that functional.

Thanks Tim ... sorry but what did you mean by your last sentence ?

[thomas hauschild]

From the texture of the material, it looks like whalebone to me. I have worked with whalebone and with swordfish ( the last one is hollow and brittle and you can use it only stabilized, a pic of the end or the tip will help me to identify if it is swordfish) A norwegian friend is collecting whalebone on the beach front of his door and that piece looks like that material. Specialy the cracks.

My second opinion is giraffe or elephant bone. I have seen elephant bone with a wall thickness of 2 inch. And my aged giraffebone looks like the area of the guard. But in this case I think the carving would not be a fish (?)

I think nobody would use whale bone in this days for a tourist piece, maybe for a tourist some decades ago.
How long /thick is that piece ?
Best Thomas

[shayde78]

Narwhal bone?? It would somewhat explain the image if indexed whalebone, although the fin orientation is that of a fish, not whale.

[David]

This is clearly made from a swordfish bill. You can find dozens of examples of these online if you search and i have personally come across them multiple times in antique store, especial in coast seafaring regions.
i cannot comment on weather or not this is a tourist item or not. I have seen these made by cultures from all over the world that have access to such fish parts. I would image that in some parts of the world these may well have been used as actual weapons, though many others are obviously done as folk art of created by hobbyists.

[thinreadline]

Originally Posted by David

This is clearly made from a swordfish bill. You can find dozens of examples of these online if you search and i have personally come across them multiple times in antique store, especial in coast seafaring regions.
i cannot comment on weather or not this is a tourist item or not. I have seen these made by cultures from all over the world that have access to such fish parts. I would image that in some parts of the world these may well have been used as actual weapons, though many others are obviously done as folk art of created by hobbyists.

Thank you , that is a real eye opener , I had never come across these before and was quite unaware of the diversity of types that occur.