What is this?

[kimemerson 7]

A friend gave this to me a few years ago and neither of us had a clue what it is. The image is cut into and painted on a stone-like material which is about 3/16" (10cm) thick x 2.5" (55cm) in diameter. Look at it at different angles and see if any makes sense. To me it looks like a signature, Fred Flinstone with a spliff, a caricature...

[AKCrash 0]

Although it's not very clear.. but I think that piece has arabic alphabets in it. In arabic, words are read from right to left. The first letter in this piece from a sepcific angle, the third one view, is "ر" which is close to the sound of R in English

The second letter is "س" which is closest to S. The third was the hardest to detect. It could be "م" or "ه". If it was the first letter, then the word would come up to be "رسم" which means to draw or drawing.. if it's the other option, then it's meaningless..

I could be completely wrong and the piece may mean something completely different. However, when I first looked at it, I thought it was arabic, which is my native language, writings!

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" Franklin

[Shepp 0]

I looked at it in every possible rotation, including mirror flips (thinking it might be a stamp or die of some sort), but I get nothing. I think AKCrash is on the right track - that it may be non-english/non-latin-alphabet in nature. My first guesses would be Arabic or a stylized asiatic script.

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.

Accidents don't just happen. They must be carelessly planned.

[Taylor610 0]

Broken?

Cracked?

[kimemerson 7]

yes. was. I glued it back.
Arabic was one of my guesses. But I have no idea.

[JohnMitchell 14]

It's an AN-2.

[turtlespeed 212]

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It's an AN-2.

Isn't it a diagram of a rarified air molecule?

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[downwardspiral 0]

Duh....its a Virgin Airlines urinal cookie!

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[JohnRich 4]

Looks Japanese to me.

[turtlespeed 212]

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Looks Japanese to me.

Wow - stereotyping even in a thread like this!

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[jonstark 8]

Quote

Quote

It's an AN-2.

Isn't it a diagram of a rarified air molecule?

Do NOT wear while tandem surfing.
Bad juju Buwanna

[Gato 0]

For some reason, I get the impression that it could be an honorary from a funeral or maybe a gift from a wedding. Because of its size, though, it might be a game piece of some kind, like a mahjong tile, or a poker chip.

My wife is a linguist, so I consulted her. This is from an email she sent me in reference to this object:

Hey. Had myself convinced it was Chinese until I looked at this page:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/arabic.html

If you look at the third jpeg on the dz post, and then look at some of the letters and diacritics on this website, you can see it really clearly.

But if I was going to make another guess, I would look at the second jpeg along with these (attached) and guess that it might be Chinese cursive script.

Thanks for sending me this. It was really run to puzzle over and it has reminded me how much I love Chinese. I’m going to start studying it again.

Cool chick, my wife.

T.I.N.S.

[turtlespeed 212]

Hmm - Maybe it is a combonation of those two - Maybe it is Pegasus

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[Gato 0]

I told her it's probably one of the seals on the Dark One's prison - and we're pretty much fucked, 'cause it's busted.

(Robert Jordan fans will understand that reference - do you speak Geekish, Turtle?)

T.I.N.S.

[turtlespeed 212]

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I told her it's probably one of the seals on the Dark One's prison - and we're pretty much fucked, 'cause it's busted.

(Robert Jordan fans will understand that reference - do you speak Geekish, Turtle?)

The wheel weaves as the wheel wants . . .

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[Gato 0]

Turtle, you're my fuckin' hero!!!!

Caldazar!! Carai al Caldazar!!

T.I.N.S.