Carved Sperm Whale Tooth (Scrimshaw)

This engraved Sperm Whale Tooth with a farewell maritime scene comes from the collection of the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther (Fife). The art of engraving designs on to the teeth, bones or baleen of sperm whales and other marine mammals is called a scrimshaw. It was a common pastime of sailers on long whaling voyages.