Featured Indigenous scrimshaw or junk

I’ve had this several years from an estate cleanout. I believe it to be original scrimshaw on some sort of tusk, not mass produced plastic as it may first appear. Only mark on the metal pie server is “stainless” in a mid-20th type font.

I’m in the northeast, so haven’t seen anything like this before. I would certainly guess it to be a “utilitarian” use of art to broaden sales in a gift shop. Easier for some people to justify buying a decorated functional piece for their table than an art piece to put on a shelf. Sorry I haven’t cleaned it better, but I am looking to find out whether it is worth it.

But is this by a First Nations artist, or assembly line churn out? What say you, @komokwa and anyone else with knowledge?

 

I had one before, it was a souvenir piece from Alaska - I seem to think it had Ivory stamped on it. I thought it was posted on the forum but I can't find it.
Maybe Howard Weyahok (1911-1976) for your signature?
http://www.ahgupuk.com/Howard Weyahok.html




https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...shawed-steak-knives.cfm?gun_id=102155858#lg-3

 

Looks like part of a walrus' dentition.

 

yup, walrus ivory , Alaskan souvenir .....

 

I don’t know the answer to your question but I have one too. A bottle opener I think. Hopefully whomever churned them out hired native artists to do the scenes.

 

Thanks, all. You’ll be glad to know I cleaned it properly!!

 

So far as I know, those signed Howard Weyahok do have some connection to him.
However, I might add that there are many similar items around, signed "Nuguruk" or "Nunuk." These are indeed genuine marine ivory or sometimes elephant ivory, dating to a time when that was legal; but they were produced from the 1920s through the late 1960s to early 1970s by a Seattle jewelry company, which hired non-native artists to do the scrimshaw from standard patterns supplied by the company. I've seen cutlery sets "signed" Nuguruk for sale at the Bon Marche in Seattle, around 1970; boxed, with a "genuine Alaska ivory" label. Oddly, the metal parts were often sourced overseas, so you'll sometimes see these with a clear "Solingen" mark on the blade, for example.
More info on "Nuguruk" items at Nuguruk: Eskimo Ivory? - EcommerceBytes

 

Interesting! I do recall mine having a German steel upper. The handle definitely being mammal sourced. It does have a sticker on it claiming it to be so as well. It’s not handy otherwise I’d post it.