Sailor’s Scrimshaw Carved Whalebone Captain’s Staff (1800 to 1900 Anglo American)

Whalebone

Simple and well balanced, this utilitarian solid whalebone staff may have been used on board ship, and besides any maritime function it had, would have made a handy weapon in a fight.
Bone from the sperm-whale was the only whalebone used to make objects as the other types were far too oily and porous. The whalers appreciated the ‘feel’ of the material and the clean, honest lines of the well proportioned device made by the scrimshanders has turned these objects into a form of marine folk art.

A Sailor’s Scrimshaw Carved Whalebone Captain’s Staff
Old smooth patina
Mid 19th Century

Size: 85cm long – 33½ ins long

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