Rafael Osona's Annual Auction Catalog Rafael Osona Annual Auction 2018 | Page 74

181. LARGE WHALE IVORY AND WHALEBONE WALKING STICK, circa 1850, a well
defined ivory fist grip and collar clenching a scrimshawed serpent twice through the palm and around the
wrist. The collar and ivory section divided by two copper spacers, one carved with a series of octagonal
disks, reeding and cross-hatching; the tapering shaft with fine and deep hatch-work above a rounded ring
above a rope carving with worm-line, ending in a 4 ¼” ferrule capped in pewter.
Length 34 ¾ in.
Reference: Frank, Stuart, Ingenious Contrivances, Curiously Carved /Scrimshaw in the New Bedford Whaling
Museum, Boston: David R. Godine, 2012. Refer to Chapter 10 “CANES, STICKS AND RODS” to see several
similar examples of scrimshaw canes. Similar examples with fist grips and a few examples of fists crushing serpents
appear on page 181.
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