Identification challenge...help sought.....any ideas???

Roger Young

display sample collector
I have been contacted by a young lad who has come into possession of a rather different model canoe which I have not seen before. I thought I'd post a few pics here, and ask for thoughts as to where it might originate, what cultural influences might underlie its creation. Size: 48" long, 10" wide, about 7" deep amidships. Stand is 18" tall; oars/paddles are 22" in length. Is it carved, or possibly molded? Why the suggestion of random stitching across the hull? I rather suspect it's a 'representative', somewhat 'artistic' rendition or amalgam of primitive canoe features, possibly mass-produced or studio-made as a large, decorative piece of home furnishing. I'm told that the stand is quite heavy, and possibly made of cast iron. If it had an oval-shaped glass top, could it be an interesting canoe-themed coffee table? Strikes me, too, that it has influences that are not necessarily North American. Your thoughts, comments, suggestions are welcomed.
 

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My guess would be a model of some sort of a currach or bull boat. These were built by sewing animal hides together and then stretching them over a wooden frame to create a boat. This technique was common in areas that had large animals available but not many large trees like Ireland, Britain, and the central plains of North America. More information is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currach and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Boat if you are not familiar with these.

Benson
 
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