5" Compass Rose Boarder Scrimshaw Box

The art of Scrimshaw occupied American whalers on the long voyages that could last 3 or 4 years. Men would take sperm whale teeth smooth the rough ridges with their knives and use shark skin as a type of sandpaper, pricking the surface with knives or sail needles, then fill the carvings with pigments made from lampblack, tea, berries, or even octopus dye.

This beautiful trinket box adorned with the compass rose design, is a modern version of that ancient art using polished ox bone.