Hi guys

A friend has a commision from a museum over here in England to make a reproduction of a late 'celtic' sword and scabbard, one of cache found a couple of years ago in East Yorkshire.

The scabbard and hilt garniture of these artifacts has some exotic components, including garnets, coral, cestacean and elephant ivory.

Can any one help with sourcing a Sperm Whale tooth (without scrimshaw!!) ?

best regards
Dave

Unfortunately sperm whales were listed under the endangered species act of 1969 (IIRC). This means that, not only is it illegal to kill an animal, but it is also illegal to own any sort of body part from an already deceased animal.

There are 3 ways I know of getting around this legally.

The easiest way is to own the item in question before the ban went in in 1969. Don'tquote me on this but I "think" that if you buyit from someone who already had the tooth before then it is ok, however I might be wrong.

Another way is to buy it from people who are allowed to harvest whales such as native americans. Sea otters are heavily protected as well, however one can easily buy sea otter pelts from native tribes.

The hardest way to get a tooth like this would be to put yourself in a situation, generally a goverment potition, where your job requires your owning of whale parts. My mother is the head of the U.S. government sea turtle department and she's frequently had turtle parts in our home. However, she is not allowed to do anything other than use these for teaching tools.

Hope I helped.




edit: They are listed in Article I of CITES (Covenvetion on international Trade of Endangered Species).

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. Appreciate your comments on the CITES law. I was thinking along the lines of antique as opposed to more recent. As I understand it CITES law allows the ownership of such items.

best
Dave

Hi Dave, there is a trader in Germany who has a Narwaltooth, one with Cite, hope this is the same as the Spermwhale looks like a unichorn horn but as far as I know he has just one tooth left for 18000 EUR.
The Link is: www.messer-spezial.de , Mail: Messer-Spezial@gmx.de
Hope this is of help Greetings Martin

It's one of the symbols of chieftainship for Fijian Ratu, so I would try there. They wear Whale teeth as pendants.

There are many of them in that country, so I'd try and source one from there. It won't break the endangered species laws, as the majority are all very old. There's one in our family, but it's kept in a locked glass box, and worn by my cousin at weddings, funerals and similar formal occasions, so I don't think it would be for sale, unfortunately...

The price for a tooth from Fiji, after conversion, would be quite good too. At least I'd imagine so. If you are really serious, PM me with how much you'd be willing to pay, and I'll set my master haggler relatives out for some in Fiji. Just don't assume that because it's a rare item that'll it will be expensive. It IS Fiji, after all...

There was a large walrus tusk here at an antique shop without scrimshaw for around $200.00 (which is a steal). I thought about buying it just to keep on hand for a future project.

I'd comb the antique shoppes in your area for such finds.

I can get ivory no problem, it's walrus tusks though. Mammoth is interesting, easy to find (at least here), but I think it's pretty hard to work. It's not cheap though. How big of a piece are you looking for?

Thanks guys for your replies, I've emailed this page and your suggestions and offers of help to my friend .

As I live in one of the old British whaling ports (Hull East Yorkshire) and close to ther famous whaling port of Whitby he thought I might have come across some cestacean ivory in the local antique shops, but any such items would be quickly snapped up by collectors..the local whaling museum though has some brilliant artifacts from those days on display, including old Inuit bows, barbed arrows and spears!

Roland, my friend has a excellent gallery of some of the historical artifacts he has produced over the years, mainly early medieval but some stone age. Roman and egyptian repro artifacts, if you are interested take a look at his his gallery !http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/BodgitandBendit/ReplicatedArtifacts# (moderators this is not not an advert for work for him..he is a very busy man !! )

Again thanks for your assistance

Dave