Crocodile-tooth Tinder-tube (length 3 ins), with silver collar and inner lining-tube of silver-gilt and elegantly carved; no cap; an exceptionally-fine example; exterior of tooth beautifully carved into form of a female figure, with a wheel (or star), two ears of corn (or palm-branches), and two squirrels represented on the skirt of her dress; the carving is pierced to the interior, the open-work allowing the silver-gilt lining-tube to be seen; a steel of unusual type, largely overlaid with copper and brass, is secured to the tip by a chain of very-elaborate pattern. [One of thirteen specimens (nos 890-902). Each is made from a crocodile tooth. 'The open end of the tubes have a fixed collar, generally of silver, but sometimes of gold or brass ... The exterior of the tooth is, in most cases, beautifully carved, generally into the form of a lady attired in a European costume of the Eighteenth Century and holding a fan, the figure being curiously bent backwards following the curve of the tooth. In somes cases, however, the carving is either absent or of very poor artistic merit. The thirteen examples, all collected by Mr. Bidwell, comprise, with two exceptions, all that are known to exist anywhere. All came, Mr Bidwell believes, from Goa... and all are doubtless of native workmanship.']