Small beautifully polished whales tooth attributed to one of the Albro brothers from Newport Rohde Island circa 1850. One side depicts a well-dressed sailor with short waisted jacket with a walking stick standing on a checkerboard-patterned boardwalk. To his left is an image of a ship coming towards the viewer and to the right a finely detailed two masted top sail schooner flying an American flag showing a port side profile. Above the sailor is a typical style sun face with engraved sun-rays showing in various directions. This sun face has a typical design style typical of the ones scene in many signed Albro signed pieces. The opposite side depicts a young girl standing beside a tall potted rosebush, reaching out one hand to grasp a flower and holding a floral sprig in her other hand. The scene is flanked by vines and topped with a detailed swag. This rendering of a female under a swag supported by in this case vertical vines is also a typical design motif seen in many Albro teeth. (SC1246)
Reference: Wandering Whalemen and their Art, A Collection of Scrimshaw Masterpieces” by Alan Granby 2022. Page 108 on the upper right shows a similar tooth with the sailor on one side and the woman with the swagger above on the opposite. Page 103 shows a tooth signed by Caleb Albro which shows a radiating sun on one side of this tooth and a more similar sun face on the opposite side located at the horizon with a similar treatment of the engraved sun rays.
Condition: The tooth has a mellow age patina. There is a tiny chip on one side of the tip. There are a few typical age cracks around the base.
Height: 4 1/2 Inches
