A SCRIMSHAW SKULL TALISMAN BELU TIMOR: ESTIMATED AUCTION VALUE $800.00 TO $1,00.00NA ===A talisman from the island of Timor. These scrimshaw relics are getting very rare, there are very few left on the local market AS MOST OF THESE PIECES ARE IN MUSEUMS AND PRIVATE COLLECTION, This piece has a nice ENCRUSTED PATINA INDICATIVE OF AGE, it is a powerful piece with a mystical face carved into the bone.. The Tetum of central Timor are one of the largest ethnic groups on the island. Before the Portuguese and Dutch colonization, they were fragmented into dozens of small states. Skirmishes between them were frequent, with head-hunting a popular activity. The First Europeans in Timor were the Portuguese, perhaps as early as 1512, the year after they captured Malaka. Like Chinese and western Indonesian traders before them, The Portuguese found the island a plentiful source of Sandalwood (prized in Europe for its aroma and for the medicinal Santalol made from the oil).

9.5" long, 4" wide, and 5" tall 

This fabulous pice also comes with a stand 

Taxidermy, oddities