63

Circa 1830-1860

SUPERB PAIR OF VIBRANTLY PAINTED SCRIMSHAW WALRUS TUSKS

Designs are carved in outline and painted fully in color. One depicts a Black man and the other a white man, and both tusks with images of a leaf, a five-pointed star, three conjoined chain links, a shield and a small garland, possibly angel's wings or two lovebirds. The triple links, and possibly the other images, could be symbols of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, or the iconography could reference the Fugitive Slave Act or the Dredd Scott decision. The Black man, probably a slave, is wearing tattered clothing, including a collared shirt, a vest with a striped lapel, and patchwork pants. The bearded white man, possibly a slave-driver or agent attempting to retrieve a fugitive, is wearing a top hat and a long green jacket, is smoking a pipe, holding a baton or rolled papers behind him in his right hand, and gesturing with his left hand. Diamond and serpentine decoration at tip. Marked on back of one in white "NH[illegible]", indicating the pair was from the collection of Meylert Armstrong of Greenwich, Connecticut and New Hope, Pennsylvania, and then part of the E. Norman Flayderman collection. On contemporary wood bases.
Total heights 15.25".
Condition: Reverses undecorated and not polished entirely smooth. Typical scattered age lines.

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  • Provenance:
    The Collection of Ian R. MacKenzie.

    Illustrated:
    Scrimshaw and Scrimshanders, Whales and Whalemen by E. Norman Flayderman (New Milford, Ct.: N. Flayderman & Co., Inc., 1972), p. 30.

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August 19, 2021 9:30 AM EDT
East Dennis, MA, US

Eldred's

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$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $4,999 $250
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