Scrimshaw Ivory Identification

[rockbock]

I believe this is a genuine ivory scrimshaw from the late 1950s or early 1960s.  It is signed by Harry Apodruk, who was an Alaskan Eskimo scrimshaw artist.  His work was apparently done primarily in the 1940s - to 1960s.  I put a red hot needle on the inside of it and it didn't leave any signs of melting.  It is only 3.5" long, so I'm having trouble identifying it.  Could it be a small sperm whale tooth, or maybe the tip of a walrus tusk?  And how do I go about valuing this item?  It has a crack wihch is close to 1" long and the edge is kind of rough (not smooth).  Since it's almost certainly pre-1972, it would be considered fossil ivory and legal for me to sell, but I'm stuck on trying to figure out exactly what it is and how to authenticate that it is, in fact, genuine ivory.  Thanks for your help.

[bigwull]

to be classified fossil Ivory...it needs to be 1000 years old...the cut off point for the sale of elephant , Hippo, Walrus, Narwal..Ivory,is 1947...but...the Innuit,and Eskimo,s are allowed to harvest Walrus, but have to notify the authorities on how many they kill,...as to this piece,almost certainly made for the tourist trade,this artists items sell well,

[greenacres]

http://www.scrimshawcollectors.com/AuthenticFakeshaw1.html
This site should help you a lot. It's a collector site.

[greenacres]

http://www.scrimshawcollectors.com/SubmittingPhotos.html
They would tell you what you need to know, but please keep us informed. Yours looks exceptionly new. For some reason I would question that. Your artist doesn't appear on their list of artists. So, I would comtact them.

[mart]

It doesn`t look thick walled enough for a tooth !!  Tusk is more likely !!

[rockbock]

Thanks for the links.  I'm going to look into this some more tonight and if I figure anything out I'll update you.  Please keep the comments coming if anybody knows for sure what this is and what it's worth.

[mart]

I checked several sources and looked at a bunch of walrus tusks !!  This doesn`t match any that I saw !!  How big is this piece !!

[rockbock]

It is approximately 3.5" around the outside edge and just shy of 3" around the inside edge.  It is about 1" in diameter at the widest point in the opening.  It weighs 1.1 ounces.

Since it is conical inside, rather than flat-bottomed (info I found on the link posted above), it seems like it is a tooth.  However, it is obviously too small to be a sperm whale, unless it was a baby.

I'm almost certain it isn't fake, but I somehow need to figure out if it's actually ivory and not baleen from some other type of whale.  I think that would make a big difference in value.

[rockbock]

Another thing which makes me believe it is a whale tooth is the presence of a "Golden Crown" at the tip (a distinct yellow section).

[rockbock]

After a little more reading, it looks like I might have an ivory tooth from a young sperm whale, which was trimmed at the base (which is why it is small). 

The lack of a strong patina doesn't mean that it is modern...apparently depending on how they were stored/displayed, very old teeth can still look white and younger teeth can have a very dark patina.

[greenacres]

I'm glad the site helped you.