The answer revealed

First of all, I must say I’m extremely impressed with all the thought you put into your answers. People noticed the use of fabric, provided links to images of similar objects and thought up creative uses for the bulbous end. Bravo! When my sister showed it to me I thought it was some sort of fertility symbol. Shows you what I know.

You’ve all been very patient. This mystery object is…

… a Fijian iculanibokola or cannibal fork. The tines at the top are, as some suggested, a hair pick. Only in this case it’s to pluck out the hair, not groom it. The bottom is a fork to scoop out the brains of the unlucky victim.

The clue was the title of Cheryl’s blog post — Cannibalism. You had to click the link to read it, so I was being a bit sneaky. When Cheryl’s not blogging about socially unacceptable eating habits, she’s a law-abiding food writer. Truth be told, her recipes are delicious and completely homosapien-free. She merely got inspired by some promotional material she received for a book on cannibalism. I would like to stress this material arrived unsolicited.

Apparently, Fiji does a “brisk trade” in counterfeit cannibal forks. Given the affordable price, we must assume my sister purchased a knock off. Quite the conversation piece, but it does explain why she doesn’t host many dinner parties.