What
Is It?
March
Do you know what the objects pictured above are? Send your answers
to the What Is It contest, postmarked by Mar. 20, to Mountain States
Collector, P.O. Box 1003, Bailey, CO 80421. Three winners will be
drawn. Winners receive a year’s subscription to the Mountain
States Collector.
 Answer
to What Is It?
February
February’s What Is It is a Chinese buckle dating from the
17th century. It is carved with good-luck characters and phoenix
heads. The richly-colored material is ivory made from the beak and
the casque (the band running across the head between the eyes) of
an Asian bird called a hornbill. The orange ivory is from the casque,
the other color from the beak. Hornbill ivory is extremely rare
and can no longer be sold because the bird itself is an endangered
species.
We had several correct answers to our contest. Charles Pheasant
of Centennial, Colorado, Jacque Rutledge, Northglenn, Colorado,
Loretta Lockett of Boulder, Colorado and Ronald Moreschini, DD.S.
of Pueblo, Colorado all correctly identified the object. Dr. Moreschini
writes, “This is a fibula, which is a buckle or clasp, that
is used to hold a robe or garment together. They can be made of
many different materials, such as gold, silver, ivory or bone. This
one is probably Japanese or Chinese. It is called a fibula, because
the smaller, outer bone in the lower leg of a human being is also
fibula, and it fits together with the longer bone (the shin bone)
named the tibia in somewhat the same way.” Interesting, Dr.
Moreschini. Thank you for your input.
And thanks to everyone who ventured a guess. The winners will receive
a one year subscription to the Mountain States Collector.
©
2010 Mountain States Collector |
