Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recieved 2 tickets from my friend's uncle and aunt to some sort of international convention where they had internation foods and silent auctions. Anyways... I gave the tickets to my parents and drove them to the place and told them to call me when they are ready to be picked up. So they call me 2 hours later and I come to pick them up. When I arrived, I was surprised by a gift from my mom. It was a tortoise shell piece, with three circular links drilled into the rear shell. The front part of the shell was sawed off. There is also a braided leather handle(I am guessing goat/gazelle/calf leather judging by the hair) drilled into the front of the shell. The tortoise shell appears to be that of either a leopard tortoise or spider. I am thinking spider by the elongated shape. I don't have a digi cam right now.. so I wil have to wait for my friend to come back from his trip this week to make a picture. Oh.. and there is a faint sticket on the belly(carapace?) of the shell saying "Uganda". So when I recieved this gift.. I didn't know how to react. Being a tortoise lover, its a shock in one way... but interesting in another. My mom won it in an auction.. paying $10 for it. She said the auction stated it was an African musical instrument. I am guessing to play it you would have to hold it by the handle and rattle it so the linked chains would hot the shell. I am curious to know if anyone else has any more info or if anyone heard of this "instrument" before. Thanks in advance...
Sharif

I forgot to mention that I told my mom it was illegal to buy/sell tortoise shell items... so I am surprised on how this item even made it to the US from Uganda.

I looked online at pictures of Spiders... and the shell coloring patterns ar different. Leopards are also different than the ones in the the classified section of the site. It doesn't look like a Leopard either. Anyone know tortoise species native to Uganda? I will try to get a picture posted ASAP. Thanks