Need help on a large 17" SCRIMSHAW

Hello,

I just bought his nice piece from a local estate sale.

I wonder if it is a reproduction or really from 1840? Have you ever heard of this artist? The material looks like a bone. Could you tell if it is from Whale bone?
?

 

Looks like a popular reproduction piece....
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-...topaz-off-marquesas-is-jan--1253-c-be14b64b45

 

Looks too good to be true Jing, maybe a bit too perfect ? But I'm no expert-someone here will have more expertise.

 

As noted in the invaluable link you found, this is a resin imitation of scrimshaw created by the Juratone company in England. It is a replica of part of a whale's jaw bone, often called the pan bone, but the scene depicted is not a copy of any original (historic) scrimshaw artwork.

In a monograph written by Stuart M. Frank, Fakeshaw: A Checklist of Plastic "Scrimshaw", this particular piece is identified as number 101PB in a catalog of Juratone's creations, and is listed under the name "The Great Hunt" / "Topaz". Here is an excerpt from Frank's monograph, discussing Juratone and similar companies -


https://www.whalingmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/KWM-Monorgaph-Series-No-1_Fakeshaw.pdf

Here is an example of the same piece held in the Royal Museums Greenwich -
https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-24

And another in the New Bedford Whaling Museum -
https://newbedford.emuseum.com/obje...1e6c45c4f231325ef04b06c1393aaa41ebaf065&idx=5

And some good advice from the Scott Polar Institute, in an article describing their scrimshaw collection -
"Beware of important-looking or highly decorated teeth and tusks. Dates, localities and the names of people and ships are rare on old scrimshaw but common on modern scrimshaw and plastic."
https://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/museum/catalogue/scrimshaw/about.html