gotcha, & that's a perfectly reasonable, plausible theory; sticker is- that this thing is part of a collection along with a whole other lot of exceptional quality late 1800's early- mid 1900's ethnic instruments. I was asked to ID it by someone else, & im pestering them for a larger photo. I know that it's hollow, with holes in it, but I dont know if it plays yet. We had also thought that it was a shaker of some kind, with holes to put in dry rice, pebbles, whatever...the plot thickens, stay tuned.