Help with symbols

[sunny_ell]

This is a little, metal, copper-tone figurine. As you can see, it has symbols on both sides (same 2 on each side). I've added pics with and w/o flash, so hopefully someone can see it and tell me if they mean something, or are just decorative. Maybe Native American since it is a bison or buffalo. Thanks in advance!

[maxine*j · Accepted solution]

It looks to me like a Minoan bull, with the labrys on his shoulder.  The labrys was a type of double axe, a Minoan symbol.   I don't know right offhand what the other symbol, on its hindquarters, is supposed to be.   It's probably a souvenir from Crete.

I don't see a bison or buffalo, or anything at all Native American about this.

[maxine*j]

I'll bet I do know what that other symbol is:  The famous "Minoan Disc," discovered on Western Crete in the late 1800s still a baffler, although I';ve even heard claims it's a sort of analog computer.   That and the labrys would make sense, along with the bull, for a souvenir of Crete.

[sunny_ell]

See! This is why I needed help. No idea, I had. Thank you!

[maxine*j]

Glad to help.   

[sunny_ell]

After some research - now that I know basically what this little figure is... the front symbol is the labrys. The rear is, I believe, the Solar Cross, with added elements of the solstices. Yep, all in a tiny form.

Thanks again. I love doing research - when I kinda know what to look for!! 

[maxine*j]

Glad you could identify the other symbol!