How decades old whale bone and scrimshaw make a nice gift in the Azores
April 29, 2014
The ancient art of scrimshaw goes back to the Stone Age when hunters scratched figures of mammoths onto pieces of ivory. In North America, whalers took up the art in the 1800s as a way to pass the time during the 1800s using whale bones and ivory.
A must for all visitors to Faial, the Scrimshaw Museum (Museu de Scrimshaw) contains a magnificent set of pieces carved from the teeth of sperm whale with engravings and low reliefs. This is a private collection belonging to the owners of the Peter Café Sport next door, which is a famous meeting place for seafarers from all over the world. The books where these seafaraers have written their dedications over the years are also on display in the Museum. http://www.petercafesport.com/pcs/museu.php?lang=EN
But Scrimshaw and whale ivory jewlery is not a lost art. In the old days, whalers would dump whale bones in the harbors - and today divers can recover that whale bone - under water for generations. From simple whale bone earings, to carved whale shaped pendants - to real Scrimshaw - these are unique bits of the past that you can only get in the Azores.
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