Whaling Gear

From ancient times whales were a major harvest of the sea. Whales produced a huge range of products for clothing, agriculture, lighting and decoration; nothing was wasted. Among the items displayed here are examples of scrimshaw. Scrimshaw is the creation of images on teeth, bone or ivory through the etching of an image on the surface, then highlighting that image with a pigment like charcoal. For some seafarers it was a hobby which helped pass the time when off duty. For others, though, it was produced to be sold when ashore as a way of making a little extra money. Some scrimshaw is quite crude, but many pieces, like these, indicate that the ‘scrimshander’ was a talented artist. While there was a time, not that long ago, when pieces like this might sit in an op shop in a maritime town to be sold for a few dollars, such has become the interest in arts and crafts that these items would now sell for an amount which would stun their maker.