Interesting, Unusual, or Gnarly Whale Teeth

This pair of fairly matched teeth have polished oval windows, and ready for a pair of portraits, or two related scenes.  as shown, the teeth weigh 13.7-ounces & 12.1-ounces.

Short, wide teeth are preferred by collectors for commissioned scrimwork, such as this 18.1-ounce tooth above.  The fully-polished, 20.6-ounce tooth (right) was longer before the 1/2-inch, 1.4-ounce section was cut from base.  Possibly, a hinged door was planned for final Victorian-era design.

The tooth on the left is Orca, showing the typical groove (both sides) needed to mesh with identical teeth of the opposing jaw.  Sperm whales have teeth only in the lower jaw, fitting onto fleshy sockets in the upper jaw. The Sperm whale tooth on the right, has been partially sectioned to reveal the whale's age, based on the number of dentinal chevrons parallel to the pulp cavity

This pair of Sperm whale teeth each have a large window polished into the obverse side. The reverse side of each is naturally raw.  The teeth weigh 28-ounces & 29-ounces. The base of one tooth is cut flat, which removed a very jagged, broken skirt.

These whale teeth were bisected to reveal the age rings, known as "dentinal chevrons" which run parallel to the pulp cavity.  In the 1950s or 1960s, a biologist working on a Norwegian or British factory whaling ship harvested these teeth from harpooned Sperm whales.  Only mature whales were to be harvested, so a few sample teeth from each Sperm whale was required for proof of age. In the third tooth from top, one dark V-shaped chevron can be faintly seen about a 1/8-inch from the pulp cavity.

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