s Decorated whale's tooth (scrimshaw), USA, c.1801-1900 - Hull Museums Collections

Decorated whale's tooth (scrimshaw), USA, c.1801-1900

Scrimshaw is the art of the whale hunter and is made with whalebone. A lot of scrimshaw is from America, especially pieces made from sperm whale teeth like this.

Scrimshaw was a way for whalers to express their world, their loneliness and general interests. This tooth shows a ship and a lady. In the past people had to hunt whales for a living. Not many countries hunt whales today. It makes them rare and is thought cruel.

Sperm whales were hunted in the South Seas and America. These were much more dangerous than Arctic whales and often tried to fight back and defend themselves. Many whaleboats were crushed in their jaws or overturned.

Great sperm whales hold many records. They are the deepest diving mammal, reaching depths of more than 1000m. They are also the largest toothed whale and have the biggest brain in the animal world.

One side of this tooth shows a fashionable lady holding a parasol. On the other side of the tooth is a fully rigged ship with a Stars and Stripes streamer.

The main reason for making scrimshaw was to kill time and to keep men occupied and out of trouble. To understand scrimshaw it is important to understand the life of whalers.

Sailing, and especially whaling, involved long periods of waiting and doing nothing. Anything that took time and helped to express the world you lived in would have been a welcome hobby.

Women naturally appear a lot on scrimshaw but these are usually very respectable images. As most scrimshaw was meant to be seen once back on shore, few erotic images survive. Images from fashion catalogues were often copied, and ladies in long dresses were the acceptable pin-ups of the day.

This tooth is part of a collection that formerly belonged to Kathleen Eleanor Tizard. The collection was donated to Hull Museums by K.E.Tizard’s son in November 1999.