Ivory netsuki skull with snake atop
Carved in the 1890’s
Dear Bryan,
You have a 'Netsuke' made in Hong kong in 1970 / 1980. Its, what I can see, elephant ivory. The hong kong makers made very high quality carving with the Japanese examples in mind. These ateliers were active from the 1950ties to made the world wide demand for Netsuke. Unfortunately you cannot sell this piece without a CITES certificate. If you do not have recipe and / or export papers with the netsuke I am sad to say you will not going to get and CITES certificate. That means that if you would like to sell the piece it cannot be sold in a public sale. My estimation is based on what I believe a collector would like to give as a price if you would sell it directly to him / her. I cannot advise to do so but I can tell you what I believe a fair price would be. The skull and the snake are both very appealing to many buyers. The carving is very well done. My estimation is conditional as you can officially not sell it in public I believe.
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