Whalebone Thimble Eye
date: label: date made
content: 1800s
notes: label: Description
content: This rope-strapped thimble carved from whalebone would have had a light rope through the eye for rigging, perhaps on a whaleboat.
label: Description
content: These miniature items also served as children’s toys or curiosities back home. Toys in the form of miniature working ship parts were easy and quick for sailors to carve, and they did not require much skill to make. They also served as potent reminders of where and what the men were doing during their long absences from their friends and families.
topic: label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
label: related event
content: Civil War and Reconstruction
label: related event
content: The Development of the Industrial United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Fisheries
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Natural Resources
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content: Transportation
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content: Art
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: E.H. Cook
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AG.025801
label: catalog number
content: 025801
label: accession number
content: 2009.0182
objectType: label: Object Name
content: thimble eye
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: rope (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: whalebone (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 3 in; 12.7 cm x 7.62 cm