Scrimshaw Addiction

Ship Scrimshaw

This Scrimshaw is of a fishing boat named the Puketapo going out to sea and is signed DG Baker 1984. The portraits are of the Captian J. Deacon and his 1^st Mate Patsy. It weighs 612 grams and measures 540mm wide x 150mm high. This piece has been artfully Scrimshawed on a Pilot Whale jaw bone.

The Scrimshaw

The story of how this Scrimshaw came into my posesion is quite interesting. About 1990 my wife and I were very low on money. I went into a fishing tackel store and as I walked in, I saw a whale bone lying on the floor. I asked the owner if is was for sale and we started to talk about pricing. He stopped me and said he’d had arguments with people who offered him too little for it.

At this point he got very serious and told me to write the price I’d be willing to pay on a piece of paper. If it was the price he wanted, he’d sell it, but if I offered him too little I wouldn’t be able to buy it no matter what. I had fifty dollars in my pocket which I was sent into town with by my wife to buy food.

When I came home with this whale bone it didn’t go over well. I was happy to survivemy wife’s wrath, but it was a close thing.

The Base

The base is made from Rosewood with an Ivory name plate attached using Sterling Silver pins.

The Finished Piece

This picture shows the finished Scrimshaw on its stand.

The End.

Contact Rod: randclacey@bigpond.com