Incollect Magazine - Issue 2

Issue 2 86 www.incollect.com Canes of many types were produced aboard whale ships. This carved, scrimshawed, and inlaid whale ivory and whalebone cane exhibits workmanship of the highest caliber. The scrimshander carved the handle out of whale ivory as a fist clenching a snake (the human fist was a commonly used motif); the snake is coiled around the hand and wrist above a shirtsleeve, detailed with engraved trim and applied buttons. The snake has inlaid eyes, a forked tongue, and deeply engraved scales. The tapered whalebone shaft of the cane has been inlaid with shell in a delicate saw tooth and tassel design and silver metal inlays of a harpoon and lance. In the nineteenth century, canes were as much a fashion accessory as a utilitarian item. Polychrome scrimshaw whale’s tooth, mid-19th century. Whale tooth, pigment. H. 6 in. Private collection. Image courtesy of Eldred’s Auction Gallery. Patriotic themes carry through the history of American scrimshaw, with images of eagles, American flags, and personifications of ideals such as Hope, Liberty, and Justice. This colorful engraved tooth features a spread-wing eagle clutching a red, white, and blue shield in its talons, and a red, white, and blue banner in its beak. An American twelve-star flag wraps nearly halfway around the tooth. The eagle’s wings, which have finely detailed feathers, reach almost entirely around the circumference. 1.  Stuart M. Frank, Ingenious Contrivances, Curiously Carved: Scrimshaw in the New Bedford Whaling Museum (New Bedford Whaling Museum, 2012), 15–17. 2.  Passage from the private journal of whaleman Charles Murphey, “A Journal of a Whaling Voyage on Board Ship Dauphin of Nantucket,” from an 1820–1823 voyage, published in 1877. 3.  Frank, Dictionary of Scrimshaw Artists (Mystic, Conn.: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1991), 24. 4.  As a girl in school, Caroline learned navigation along with painting, embroidery, and “use of the globe.” It was not unusual for women to accompany their husband’s on whaling voyages, as did Caroline. Caroline and William made three whaling voyages together. On the final voyage, William and eight crewmen came down with smallpox, and Caroline, the daughter of a doctor, not only nursed them back to health, but also assisted with navigation while William was incapacitated. Carved Scrimshaw Cane with Inlay, mid-19th century. Whale ivory, whale bone. L. 35 in. Private collection. Image courtesy Eldred’s Auction Gallery.