Authentic saddle?

[Bird74]

Hi everyone. Thank you for letting me post. I need any info about this saddle I have. Can anyone translate or tell me anything about this? Thank you 

[SteveM]

The front is a badly damaged inlay of 福 (fuku = good luck/fortune)

 

The back...its hard to say. It's also badly damaged. Judging from the kanji on the front, I'd say this one should be 寿, or some variation (kotobuki = felicitations/longevity), but it's either poorly executed or my reading is off.

[uwe]

Different from the common Japanese kura.

Hmm, no clue yet, but have my doubts….

[Bugyotsuji]

Possibly a Chinese saddle?

[Shogun8]

Looks a little crude, doesn't have the quality I would expect...

[Justin Grant]

I'm thinking Chinese.

[FrenchBreadPrime]

This feels a little bulky for a Kura, I'd say it's Chinese too though it reminds me of Tibetan saddles.

[ROKUJURO]

...or Mongolian?

[FrenchBreadPrime]

3 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

...or Mongolian?

I was thinking of Mongolia too as the saddle is reminding of some of their designs, but the Mongols didn't really use Hanzi characters. After reflection, these characters look like Hanzi/Kanji but I don't think they are. Could these characters be Khitan script ? If the saddle is Khitan it'd be a little older than the mongol Empire.