Featured An authentic scrimshaw piece

Just sharing, but opinions appreciated.

I bought this in the early 1970s at my parents urging. If I remember correctly, I paid between $100 and $200 for it. That was just before the embargo on ivory products went into effect. I learned of it from George Wood, a collector himself. He had a display of his pieces at a local museum and I attended. He was interested in purchasing it, too, but I beat him to the punch.

It is not a typical scrimshaw theme. It depicts the American poet, John Greenleaf Whittier as a young man on one side and on the other are stanzas from his work "The Eternal Goodness". Around top of the whale's tooth is a whaling scene and there's also a 5-pointed star inlaid with what looks like abalone and the name "Sarah" inscribed in the center. The letter "D" is also present, and I assume that was either the initial of the carver's first or last name. The tooth is mounted in a bronze or brass base.

In 2007, curious as to its value, I took it to the Whaling museum in Mystic, CT as an overnight trip. While the curator was gracious, he indicated that professional ethics prevented him from assigning a value and added that the museum would gladly accept it as a donation. I have made that provision in my will.

This story also has a sour note to it. After my mom passed in 2006, a woman from the same place I worked (different department, but close enough we had contact) would come to my house every weekend to help me go through things when she learned of my mom's passing. I think she was more treasure hunting than trying to be helpful. When she saw this, she went wild and asked me for it (her daughter's mane is Sarah). I didn't want to part with it knowing it was likely valuable. Then she tried a little arm twisting saying that she gave up her weekends and had to leave her family to come and help me, so I owed it to her. That didn't wash with me since I never asked her for help, it was her volition to come to my house. After that she stopped coming. When I asked he why, she replied "We've reached an area of diminishing returns." After I retired, she was still working and one day I received a call from her demanding it, but offered money. I still refused and she disconnected. However, ever once in a while I'd get an email or phone call asking if we could get together for lunch. I suspect she would be dunning me for the scrimshaw, so I've been putting her off. I also blocked her phone number.

Anyway here are some pics:

 

It looks to me like the D is more than just ornate; could be a monogram with 1 or 2 other letters inside. Your former coworker sounds like a piece of work herself. Good on you for leaving this one to the museum. They will not publicly put a value on it even when it passes to their custody. It will be left to you or whoever handles your estate to do that if needed for tax purposes.

 

http://www.antiquescrimshawcollectors.org/

 

A very interesting and
special piece..

 

That is awful of that person to be so demanding, and I am glad you never gave in to her. Over the years we have had things “missing”. We hired our neighbors daughter to feed our cat a few years ago, 2 weeks after we returned we noticed several things missing, small in size but valuable. One of the things she stole was part of an original set of my son’s Teen age ninja turtle set mugs & his Nickelodeon alarm clock in the box. We noticed those things packing for a trip to Germany. Small items she probably thought we would not miss. My husband wanted to call the cops, I struggled to do that to 14 y.o, she denied it when my husband confronted her. Sad thing is we paid her well & she did a terrible job, we came home to a litter box mess, his water bowl was dry & he chewed opened his food bag. Hard lesson learned on our part.

 

she replied "We've reached an area of diminishing returns.

I had a friend , that after many years , I broke off our relationship...

he complained bitterly that he had " invested so much time and effort into our friendship"
So , what? ....I thought....... I was just an investment ???

 

I like the statement: ‘We've reached an area of diminishing returns’ Iam going to try use it in a meeting. Would also be cool printed on a T-Shirt

 

The prices of these things seems to vary greatly. But some sell for a LOT of money (especially also signed and dated) I had a look at one a few weeks ago at an Antique Arcade. It was nice enough showing a typical whaler (and signed but not dated) The detail wasn’t as good as others I’ve seen online and the tooth itself didn’t seem that old (well to me)The asking price was the equivalent of just over $ 1,900. Anyway I think in the right auction the collectors would be willing to pay a whole ‘ a boat load’ for yours (it’s so unique and so authentic and really fitting as a museum object)