Unknown Finish....Please Help

I have been building and restoring furniture for 40 years and have come across many different types of finishes.
This time I'm stumped!
I picked up a carved horse that had been damaged during a move thinking it looked and felt like it was finished in some type of lacquer.
I repaired the damage by injecting thin epoxy into the splits, brakes and cracks, clamped it together then started cleaning up the excess epoxy with wax remover (very similar to turps) which removed the filled finish and the stain under it.
On closer inspection the finish feels hard and dry but if I run a finger nail over it I get something that looks like I've just scraped a wax finish.
The scrapings are not sticky and look like tiny flakes, almost like shellac over wax.
The horse is nearly 4 feet high and was bought in Fiji on a recent trip, the owners said they paid $1500 for it and were very upset finding it damaged.
I don’t' think I'm going to be able to find out who made it.
Does any one have any idea?
Looking forward to some suggestions.
Keith