Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Tooth, 20th Century
date: label: date made
content: 20th century
notes: label: Description
content: The scene on the obverse of this tooth might serve as a primer for sticking a whale. In the front center is a whaleboat with sail rigged up and four rowers with shipped oars. In the stern the boat steerer sits, and in the bow the harpooner stands with his arms in the air, ready to hurl his iron into the flesh of a whale. The detail in the freehand carving is so fine that the nails in the individual outer hull planks are visible, along with the sail's reefing points and sewn seams. To the left in the background, the mother ship is seen in the distance; the scene is bordered along the bottom edge by a laurel leaf vine.
label: Description
content: The reverse is etched with a large, anatomically correct sperm whale; below it is a waving pennant inscribed "PAUL GANDON". There is no one named Gandon in the New Bedford Whaling Museum Whaling Crew List Database.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Scrimshaw
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content: Transportation
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content: Art
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: From the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Wilbur J. Gould
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1978.0052.28
label: accession number
content: 1978.0052
label: catalog number
content: 1978.52.28
objectType: label: Object Name
content: scrimshaw tooth, whale
label: Object Name
content: scrimshaw
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: tooth (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 in x 3 in x 2 in; 17.78 cm x 7.62 cm x 5.08 cm