Antique Scrimshaw Gallery
A pair of scrimmed Whale teeth showing  what is possibly the same woman ten years or so apart in age, based on hair style and dress.   We speculate that a ship owner's wife or a captain's wife commissioned these portraits from existing daguerreotype or albumen photos, both of which degrade at sea.  A seafaring man could safely keep scrimshawed portraits for decades.  Note that the women on the left is wearing a dress pattern that would be made of cotton, dated to the early 1860s.  She is wearing no jewelry and a simple hairstyle, typical of an un-married maiden.   The lady on the right is wearing a fancy dress pattern that would be made of silk, dated to the early 1970s.  She is wearing earbobs, a pendant necklace, and coiffured hair, and possibly make-up.  Quite typical of a succesful marriage to a well to-do New Englander.  From the Nantucket area and kept together for many years.
Unsigned scrimshaw on a 32 oz. whale tooth. Text states 1862, but owner believes it is the work of two scrimshanders from different eras, one circa 1920.  The upper image of three ostrich feathers in a crown, and enscribed "Ich Dien"
(I serve), which was the motto of the Black Prince (Prince of Wales, 1330 - 1376, son of King Edward lll & Philippa of Hainault, Belgium), adopted from John of Bohemia, and since then, incorporated into the arms of every Prince of Wales.
Lower scribed text:
A Good Captain - Clean
Quarters - Dreams of the
Bark America 1862
To Pam Cook from Robert
Cottle - Prince of Wales
ScrimCollector suspects that this may be from a sailor on the New England whaler Prince of Wales, to his sweetheart.
Maybe a marriage proposal?
"Watch Over Us" with a guardian angel scribed onto a 22-ounce tooth.  While most ship owners & captains were Quakers, many crew members were from the Azore & Verde Island groups, who were predominately Catholic.
Research  is in progress on "Captain Knowles" and the person honored on the reverse, who is possibly an engineer or inventor holding a model of a lighthouse.  The Griffin (or Hippogriffin) may be a reference to the name or family of this individual.
"Whalers and the Gods of the Sea" on a 24-ounce tooth from England. 
An idealic tropical whaling scene on front, but on backside, note both Aeolis, Greek god of wind (upper left), and Zues, Greek god of lightening & thunder (upper right), harrasing a whaler ship as it drops into the open mouth of  Poseidon, Greek god of the sea.
Antique ivory day planner with scrimshawed covers, front and back
Stipple-transfer scrimwork depicting graduates celebrating
An elegant Victorian mother and child
playing with a hoop toy
Scribed spread eagle in flight on a 9-inch, 28-ounce tooth
A scribed ivory billard ball, which is also decorated with two ivory "ear" discs attached by brass pins. The compass rose is labeled with an "N" on one side, and decorated with a scribed bark on the other. A date of 1841 is also visable just above left disc. The ball was drilled and tapped on the bottom, probably for mounting on a binnacle for decoration.

Stand is Mexican Mahogany by Ken Fredericks, attached by a recessed bolt to the threaded shaft.
An antique polychrome scrimshaw, probably depicting a couple outfitted for a fancy costume party.
The lady is dressed as Spanish nobility (holding an ostrich feather), circa 1870s, and the gentleman is dressed
in English workman's garb (possibly wearing a mask and holding a stonemason's mallet), era 1550 to 1670.
4.25-inch & 7.0-ounce tooth was most likely broken after scrimwork was applied.  Obtained in England.
Proceed to Antiques page 2
HOME Return to GALLERY Index