ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1458" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <P>I purchased this at an Asian flea market back in 1996. I was told that it was a tooth but I knew that it wasn't. </P> <P>After looking at many photos of bones, horns, and claws, I have come to the conclusion that it is most likely the left of a pair of claws. My first suspicion was that it belonged to a giant sloth. However, all of the specimens that I have seen in books and museums appear to have much smaller and more curved claws. </P> <P>I have pretty much ruled out that it was some sort of horn due to the fact that horns tend to have a round cross section while my specimen has one flat side. This leads me to believe that it is the left part of a pair of claws. I think it was was for digging. </P> <P>I would really like to find out what animal this claw belonged to. A couple of local paleontologists have looked at it and said that it was a horn but every horn that I've seen is round or oval; not curved on one side and flat on the other. One thinks that it is a horn but I really don't think that it is. But then, I am not a paleontologist and only know what I have seen in museums, books, and the Discovery Channel. </P> Better quality images can be seen here: <a href="http://www.red928.com/TheClaw/index.htm" target="_blank">http://www.red928.com/TheClaw/index.htm</a></p> <P><img src="DVC00003.JPG"></P> <P><img src="DVC00004.JPG"></P> <P><img src="DVC00005.JPG"></P> <P><img src="DVC00006.JPG"></P> <P><img src="DVC00007.JPG"></P> <P><img src="DVC00008.JPG"></P> <P><img src="DVC00009.JPG"></P> <P><img src="DVC00010.JPG"></P> </BODY></HTML>