so, we acquired a piece of scrimshaw on an apparent whales tooth that I have been trying to authenticate. I paid for an on-line appraisal which stated and rather rudely that the piece was plastic, a fake, and worth about 20 bucks. Well, okay but, i have done alot of research and found a piece with the exact design on an eBay site that supposedly was un-earthed at some place in England I think not so very long ago and was supposed to be an original but, if that one is original and has been buried for so long, why are there copies? No one could see that piece to make a 20Th century copy, right? and again, I found another piece that states it is a fake, with the same design, again, ? So somewhere is an original of this piece for others to copy. when I researched on a site called "fakeshaw.com" one is mentioned that seems similar but is not as big and has an American flag depicted which mine has a British flag and is longer.....they do not provide pictures, but I am posting ones here of ours because something is fishy[pun!! and yes i know whales are not fish] but I don't know where yet, but I am going to find out! just because. ours is signed with initials j a as the one mentioned on fakeshaw, but the other criteria is not met. the one i saw on the eBay site was very similar to mine, no initials though and the carving was not as detailed nor was the tooth itself defined as well. i of course want mine to the original and all the others copies, but, we will see what else I can find out.
Friday, May 30, 2008
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i have been trying for about a year to find more info on the scrimshaw that i have come across and it is the excact same as yours if you would like to talk more my e-mail is sniffa2002@verizon.net jennifer larson
i have been looking for pieces like mine for awhile until now i have had no luck your piece is excactly like mine in every way email me at sniffa2002@verizon.net
I have the very same scrimshaw, exact, the JA initials are in caps. Bought it at an estate sale in Northern Virginia. Is it a fake? Probably so, since we are idenitical ones.
I have the very same scrimshaw, exact, the JA initials are in caps. Bought it at an estate sale in Northern Virginia. Is it a fake? Probably so, since we are idenitical ones.
I recently purchased a scrimshaw at an auction with Napoleon on one side and 3 men firing a canon on the other side marked 1815, and signed by J.A. After the mis-leading purchase a member of the auction house family came up to me and said it was a copy made over 100 years ago. But after reading various things about J.A. scrimshaws I am not convinced that these copies were made in the late 1800's.
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