Any resident experts on Alaskan scrimshaw?

I recently acquired several lovely ivory walrus tusk pieces from a collection in England. They were all acquired before 1961 and the ones which I can identify (the Canadian ones) all date to the very early 1950's.

Sadly, Alaska is outside my area of expertise. As you can see, two of the three are quite sophisticated and one is rather simple.

 

more images

 

I am by no means expert or knowledgeable, but when I was travelling in Alaska I saw examples of the first one being called a cribbage board. I desperately wanted some antique scrimshaw but it was beyond my pockets at the time, so I settled for a modern piece. I envy you your find.

 

There were two cribbage boards, one from Alaska and one from Northern Canada

 

@komokwa

 

These are very nice, but I couldn't tell you any more than you already know. I know some of the Alaskan scrimshaw artists by name, but in only a few cases would I be able to recognize their styles or make attribution. These are all lovely though.

 

@all_fakes , @2manybooks ?

Edit: Steve @all_fakes you posted just ahead of me.

 

Totally agree! but, with a 'I defer to komokwa' at the ready, and as my avatar suggests, I will take a stab at any native american piece. My impressions are that they are very nice newer artist pieces, not pre 50s. Made for sale in an established art market. Nice to own. The ivory is typically fossil ivory not to run afoul of the marine mammal act. The town may actually be identifiable, and my initial guess is Nome (a guess for a start to research). The images of the hunt, and various activities all strike me as 'catering' to a hungry audience on that subject. I have older Inuit carvings on bone (no cribbage boards) and they are typically more 'utilitiarian' - until the art market matured. The initial market seemed to have more 'dolls' and dog sled carvings, something that mirrored the things that the very first visitors took home, and so the continuation was to make more of those 'things'... then the 50s and tourism really created a market for "art". Cribbage too was a 'thing' of the past that would be replicated.

My take at first blush.

(You have the dates, but I wasn't paying attention...)

 

I am waiting til I get home to my computer where I can see the photos better. But I doubt I can add more than Dawnno has said already.

 

I'll add that these pieces are not fossil ivory, but non-fossil walrus; Alaskan native artists are exempt from the restrictions on ivory which would apply to non-native artists.

 

correct, and, if pre 1960, the MMPA wasn't even in existence yet. Didn't make that clear. Thx A_f

October 21, 1972. to be exact

 

As mentioned in the original thread. The collector died in 1961.

 

That's some nice ivory.....
but if Mark wanted me to look at them....he could invite me over for coffee....I'm only 15 minutes away !!
.With that out of the way.....thank you Bronwen & Dawnno....!!!

Alas........Alas-ka.....or Alaskan Eskimo.....is and has been such a huge market...with so many artists...known and mostly unknown..... that I can only add with a modicum of certainty that these do indeed look to be post WW2 production when the market saw an increased demand for traditional slice of life scenes that evoked life in the north.

It may be possible....to ballpark the area where some of these were made, by focusing on the images, like the model of canoe.....which were closely related to certain areas of the north.






View attachment upload_2019-4-23_15-49-8.jpeg

thus...for example ....this tusk...likely from the Hooper bay area.....

but to say I know more than this....... for now...would be hubris, at best !

 

Which makes end of WWII/50s a very logical time for purchases in Alaska. Not that the collector was military personnel, but for obvious reasons, people were in Alaska a lot for military reasons during the time period, relatively speaking, vs before Alaska became a radar post. I can see that 'business was booming' for scrimshaw all of a sudden. I would be hesitant to date them to the 30s. Need some real help for that.

[post after komokwa... so more confirmation]

 

Hi Komokwa,

No disrespect intended. You are always welcome for coffee, with or without an invitation.

Thanks for the input.

 

Pleeeeeease ......do you not see the .....playful line of emojies....

I'm pullin yer leg pal !!!!!!!

No offense taken.............. or implied !!

Just goofin around !!!

Do I not already stop by ....at my whim !!???

 

but thanks for the invitation.......................Bawhahahaha!!!!!!!!

 

Pretty sure now the town is Nome.

 

good call......that seems to be the same landscape !

 

Of course Sitka is another possibility as the tusk shows something very similar to the Cathedral of St-Michael