Walking Stick Cane - Carved & Etched Bone Handle - Scrimshaw - Ships & Whaling

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Walking Stick Cane - Carved & Etched Bone Handle - Scrimshaw - Ships & Whaling Lovely quality walking stick made of wood with a genuine hand carved oxbone handle. This handle is in the form of a scrimshaw faux whale tooth and is hand etched with a ships & whaling scene. The cane measures 92.5cm from the head to the tip. The actual scrimshaw handle is 12cm long. All my scrimshaw is made of ox bone. I do not support the trade in illegal carvings. My scrimshaw is hand made using ox bone and is carved by genuine Scrimshander's using age old techniques & primitive tools as first used in the 18th century to produce a most beautiful finished article. The superb quality pieces they create look and feel like antique originals but they are not. Each piece is lovingly made by hand. There are many varying qualities of modern scrimshaw but this piece is not to be confused with the mass factory produced items originating in the Far East, mine is all genuine hand made. All my scrimshaw pieces have been copied from antique originals even down to having the original dates and signatures. I constantly scour auctions worldwide to purchase original pieces which i then use as the master from which i produce these pieces. I have been made aware that in the past people have bought these from me and then re sold them at hugely inflated prices at auctions & antiques fairs by selling them as antique pieces. These are not antique pieces but are reproduction so please if you buy from me to re sell always state that they are reproduction. Originally an artform of the Native Americans and Inuit, Scrimshaw was an artform adopted by American Whale hunters during trips sometimes lasting for several years. Sailors on the old whaling ships would while away the hours between life-threatening hunts, by making intricately carved items from the jaw bones, teeth and tusks of their prey. The fine craftsmanship of the artwork was highlighted by rubbing blacking into the fine etched lines. Originating in an era when sperm whales were initially plentiful only to be hunted to near collapse, scrimshaw no longer is an artform utilizing an easily renewable animal resource, but one that is susceptible to contraband. Now, the Endangered Species Act and international conventions restrict this to try to reverse the scarcity of these animals. Scrimshaw is the name given to handiwork created by whalers made from the byproducts of harvesting marine mammals. It is most commonly made out of the bones and teeth of sperm whales, the baleen of other whales, and the tusks of walruses. It takes the form of elaborate carvings in the form of pictures and lettering on the surface of the bone or tooth, with the engravings highlighted using a pigment, or small sculptures made from the same material. The making of scrimshaw began on whaling ships between 1745 to 1759 on the Pacific Ocean, and survived until the ban on commercial whaling. The practice survives as a hobby and as a trade for commercial artisans. A maker of scrimshaw is known as a scrimshander. Whale teeth and bones were a highly variable medium, used to produce both practical pieces, such as hand tools, toys and kitchen utensils, and highly decorative pieces, which were purely ornamental. The designs on the pieces varied greatly as well, though they often had whaling scenes on them. For example Herman Melville, in Moby-Dick, refers to "lively sketches of whales and whaling-scenes, graven by the fishermen themselves on Sperm Whale-teeth, or ladies' busks wrought out of the Right Whale-bone, and other skrimshander articles". Most engravings were adapted from books and papers. Scrimshaw is derived from the practice of sailors on whaling ships creating common tools, where the byproducts of whales were readily available. The term originally referred to the making of these tools, only later referring to works of art created by whalers in their spare time. Whale bone was ideally suited for the task, as it is easy to work and was plentiful. The development of scrimshaw ... read more

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