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G'day guys,

I am hoping that someone out there may be able to identify what looks like to be, an unusual type of oracle bone.

The oracle bone is one of two, (both very different) that I purchased from a Japanese collector a good few years ago, who told me that he purchased them from a Uighur person in Mongolia.

This piece is zoomorphic in form, with characters, after exhaustive searches, I have been unable to find anything similar.

It is my gut feeling, that this is a very rare, and significant piece, and totally authentic. Visual forensics tell me that it has not been made by a controlled hand, and the carved lines are not parallel, (not made by a modern tool)

The crack running through the face has severed the carving where shrinkage has occurred on one side, meaning that the carved line on the other side of the crack, does not line up.
(in other words, the crack appeared long after the item was carved)

There are saw marks on the bone that are clearly visible, this does not concern me, (a faker would have removed these) as some samples of plain oracle bones in Chinese institutions clearly show saw marks.

I thank you in advance, and await somone's expert opinion.

Photo does not load...

Not sure why?....I have contacted the moderator, but no reply. I might give it another try.

Be sure the picture is less than 100kb and 800x600 pixels.

Regards,

Arjan

Whatever you downloaded from about.com, need to rename image without characters & and = and must have file-type suffix like *.jpg.

To link to about.com page copy whole URL and put in "Link URL" box and put link name (say, "bone") in URL Title box.

Good luck,
Cal

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