Hello, Miss Aurelia - It might help to know where this lacemaker (and her husband) lived. According to Wikipedia, scrimshaw, "...is most commonly made out of the bones and teeth of Sperm Whales, the baleen of other whales, and the tusks of walruses. (if the underlined words show in blue, these are links from Wikipedia). So, depending where her husband's home port was, and the type of ship on which he sailed, the material could be narrowed down a little... but probably never identified "for certain" without a scientific analysis.
And what is baleen, you ask... Again, according to Wikipedia, it is, "... not bone, but is composed of keratin, the same substance as hair, horn, claws and nails..." Baleen whales have "plates" of hairy fringe through which they filter the organic matter on which they live. The solid part of the plate, from which the fringe emanates, is presumably the part that is used for scrimshaw. VERY interesting stuff... Clay -- Clay Blackwell Lynchburg, VA USA -------------- Original message -------------- From: Aurelia Loveman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > I have a couple of scrimshaw bobbins that I was given, decades and > decades ago, by a sailor (the new husband, or about-to-be-husband of > a lacemaker), bobbins that he made while he was on a long voyage. > They could be made of bone; and they could be made of ivory. I know > nothing about scrimshaw, nor what this decoration is applied to. > Unlikely to be bone (bone on a long voyage?). And unlikely to be > ivory, for obvious reasons ($$). So what could they be? > > P.S. I have tried and tried and TRIED, over these many years, to find > out who the above-mentioned couple might be. No luck. > > Aurelia > Catonsville, Maryland USA > > - > To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: > unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
