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Oriental Dolphins Statue - Japanese? Chinese?

In Animals > Dolphins > Show & Tell and Asian > Asian Statues > Show & Tell.
Dolphins47 of 75Glass DophinMurano Dolphin
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    Posted 9 years ago

    Efesgirl
    (1017 items)

    One of my thrift shop finds early this year. This beautiful statue was brown from nicotine...yuk...but cleaned up perfectly. This statue is very tactile. I have no clue about the mark other than red usually meaning export. No idea about the price tag, either, as I paid 4 Euro 50 Cents for it. I think it's molded from composite material - perhaps marble dust. Not sure about that, either.....

    Thanks for any help!

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    Comments

    1. katherinescollections katherinescollections, 9 years ago
      What a curious hallmark. Bottlenose dolphins were popular back in the 60s based on the TV series Flipper, maybe this is from that era? It does look very smooth, is it cold, heavy?
    2. Efesgirl Efesgirl, 9 years ago
      katherine - yes, it's quite cold and rather heavy for it's size. It's sooooo nice to hold, though, because of the smoothness of the dolphins. I'm not at all sure if it's carved or molded. I don't know if the hallmark is right side up, either....lol!
    3. katherinescollections katherinescollections, 9 years ago
      Well I've taken a good look around, and can't find anything like your dolphin in terms of material or style of base. I think you're right, it does look Asian to me, though that hallmark is hard to figure. There's a lot of dolphin figurines where I grew up, mostly glass, some ceramic. This one is altogether different. Maybe one of the jewelry experts can identify the material?
    4. Efesgirl Efesgirl, 9 years ago
      Katherine - I have seen a very similar double bottle nose dolphins statue in a second hand shop I visited a month or so ago, but it was by an American maker (tags still on it) and didn't have that funny red stamp on the bottom. Thanks for trying! Maybe I can scare up someone on here with a great deal of knowledge about Asian products. The dolphins are sooooo silky smooth you don't believe it. I'm fairly certain it's a tourist piece, but that doesn't satisfy my curiosity, lol!
    5. Efesgirl Efesgirl, 9 years ago
      Measures 5"x 5" x 2"
    6. katherinescollections katherinescollections, 9 years ago
      Yes these are generally souvenir pieces, they are sold all over the place in the beach communities in the tourist shops. I'm guessing if you'd looked closer at the American one there would have been some differences? I say that because the feel of this one is Asian. But then I'm no expert, lol. I know what you mean about curiosity, lol! :)
    7. Efesgirl Efesgirl, 9 years ago
      rucklezglass - thanks so much for your input! Is the mark right side up? The material almost looks like alabaster. I took another look at it, and I am going to say that this is molded rather than carved. I don't see any obvious carving marks. Unfortunately, certain !@#$%! Japanese still slaughter these magnificent creatures.

      http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/03/japanese-towns-annual-dolphin-hunt-starts-taiji
    8. Efesgirl Efesgirl, 9 years ago
      rucklezglass - thanks, I will rotate the photo and repost it.

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