The Nautical Antiques Show: Charting The Course For Scrimshaw Collectors & Enthusiasts - Antiques And The Arts Weekly (2024)

Review & Onsite Photos by Carly Timpson & Kiersten Busch

NEW BEDFORD, MASS. — With the opening of the Nautical Antiques Show on Friday, May 10, the Antique Scrimshaw Collectors Association kicked off its 33rd Annual Scrimshaw & Nautical Antiques Weekend in New Bedford, celebrating maritime history and artistry with informative presentations all day on Saturday with a banquet dinner and performance of nautical music by the New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus, directed by Thomas Goux that evening and, on Sunday, a “field trip” to see the ship model collection of Dr Henry Kriegstein of Hingham, Mass. — “the foremost private collection of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century British Admiralty ship models, along with naval paintings, prisoner of war artifacts and books,” according to the programming notes.

Held at the Waypoint Event Center, the Nautical Antiques Show hosted 14 dealers from across the country, and collectors travel from far and wide to find the “best of the best.”

“This is a very small show, but we have very serious buyers,” explained Mary Boger, the show chair, when she spoke to Antiques and The Arts Weekly at the beginning of the show. This was Boger’s third year holding the position of show chair, but she has been an Antique Scrimshaw Collectors Association (ASCA) board member for five or six years. Before that, she had been a frequent attendee of the Nautical Antiques Show with her husband. She left us with the encouraging message: “You will find the very finest nautical antiques and scrimshaw [here].”

Longtime collectors Tom and Barb Conley from Huntley, Ill., were back at the show and made a point to share that they had traveled here every year since 1994, only a few years after the show’s inception. The couple has a particular interest in scrimshaw and find that “it’s a fairly unique group of attendees,” one of many things they love about the show. “You don’t find a lot of scrimshaw in the Midwest,” they joked.

Parke Madden, ASCA president, shared that the association was founded out of a need to share collections and scholarship on antique scrimshaw, and for “dealers to come together to understand changing whale ivory laws. We wanted a unified voice to help represent antique scrimshaw and to advocate towards legislators while forming policies.” The work of the association is far from over, however. “We are still growing, still learning about antique scrimshaw,” Madden concluded.

Madden was at the show as a dealer, representing Paul Madden Antiques, Sandwich, Mass. He brought a wide variety of nautical antiques, paintings and scrimshaw. However, Madden was most excited to display a circa 1875 scrimshaw sewing chest, which he called “a labor of love.” Once in the collections of Barbara Johnson and Jeff Cohen, the mahogany sewing chest was fully inlaid with whale ivory, mother-of-pearl, abalone and whale bone, and had multiple working drawers and a folding mirror.

In his second year at the show, James Kochan, Wiscasset, Maine, filled his booth primarily with art done by professional sailors and Naval objects rather than whaling and scrimshaw like many of his peers at the show. “They were good artists in their own right,” Kochan said about the sailors, before showing off a few of the paintings he was happiest to have at the show. One was of the USS Concord, done by the ship’s sailing master during the return voyage of her maiden journey. Kochan was quick to point out a notable feature of the painting: the scale at the bottom which proved that the sailing master also carefully delineated the sailing plan of the ship, “on top of it being a portrait.” Some other offerings included a painting of the USS Eerie done by Constantine Smith, a short-lived and rebellious former West Point cadet, and some sea service musketoons.

Ken Brown of Frank the Fisherman, San Francisco, saved up items from his personal collection to offer at this year’s show, his first as a dealer. “I brought some pretty good things,” he admits, including an assortment of canes and scrimshaw busks, some from the collection of Paul E. Vardeman, “The Dean of Scrimshaw.” Those were etched in polychrome and had double-sided scenes. About an hour after the doors opened, Brown reported having a busy morning, noting that he had already sold a walking stick and some scrimshaw to fellow dealers. He emphasized, “A lot of the best dealers in this genre are here.”

Based in Rockport, Texas, Gordon Stanley of Maritime Gallery brought a plethora of things from his personal collection. He came fully prepared, with carefully assembled reference guides for many pieces that he was selling, complete with historical research and provenance records. One of the most eye-catching pieces in Stanley’s booth, though not for sale, was a whale’s ear bone, carved to look like a man’s face. The carving was completed by Captain Thomas Nickerson of Ganges in 1853, during the ship’s last journey before she was condemned. Some other offerings included unusual scrimshaw busks — one relief carved and another with silver inlays — and an unusual pie crimper in the form of a half-unicorn-half-fish creature. “There has to be a story behind these things,” Stanley explained, “and I want to figure it out.”

Sandy Moss from Westport, Mass., brought a selection of scrimshaw and carvings. Moss had previously managed the show for 10 years and was delighted to be back as a dealer this year. He was excited to show us a 1920s Nunivak Island, Bering Sea, walrus tusk carving, which featured 19 walruses and several seals. Moss shared, “These pieces were made by Inuit carvers for about 20 years. They either lost the talent over time, or their teachers died.” The extremely short period in which they were made makes them quite rare and highly sought-after.

“We have attended the show since the very first symposium at the Kendall 20 years ago,” said Jack Fritsch, representing The Antiques Depot, Nantucket, Mass., alongside his wife, Ciara. “We used to attend as shoppers, and now we’ve done the show for 10 years.” The Fritsches prided themselves on bringing a diverse spread this year, including a Nantucket basket with carved whale’s tooth detailing, which they were very excited about. “We may be the only ones with a Nantucket basket like this,” Ciara told us. They also had a whale tooth, which they estimated to be the most expensive piece in their booth, and which already had a longtime buyer interested.

Greg Gibson, Ten Pound Island Book Company, Gloucester, Mass., brought a wide variety of nautical prints and books. However, he was most excited to show us an 1878 “Excursion View of Narragansett Bay.” Housed in a walnut case with hand-cranks, the 30-foot-long scrolls were illustrated with depictions of a steamer sailing down Narragansett Bay to Block Island, R.I. Gibson explained that often these would be sold at gift shops near docks, so “you could revisit your whole trip, there and back.” He displayed it alongside a matching calendar, which was released in the 1970s; each month featured a different segment of the strips.

It did not take long to notice the standout item at longtime Nautical Antiques Show veteran Ryan M. Cooper’s booth — a large pilothouse eagle, carved in the Nineteenth Century by New York City ship carriers Collins & Brown. Based out of Yarmouth Port, Mass., Cooper also brought an interesting selection of whaling materials and other nautical antiques, including a Nineteenth Century French bronze bell dated 1854, an arctic harpoon from the late Eighteenth or early Nineteenth Century, a Hawaiian bowl with an Indigenous repair, a speaking trumpet with historical provenance and a pair of unique scrimshaw carvings, depicting Gilbert Islands warriors with shark tooth weapons. “It’s going well so far,” he admitted when we caught up with him. “I’ve sold the eagle. I’ve sold a billet head and a few other things. There’s been a lot of interest in the scrimshaw.”

The author of the “new Bible of scrimshaw,” Dr Alan Granby, from Hyannis Port, Mass., brought busses, canes and an assortment of scrimshaw, among other things. “I’ve done the show five times and I love how it has such expert dealers; there’s a very knowledgeable audience,” Granby told us. He took a break from dealing last year to speak at the symposium on his book, Wandering Whalemen and Their Art: A Collection of Scrimshaw Masterpieces (2021). He was most excited to show us a wood carved figurehead of a Native American princess attributed to Joseph Bowers of New York City, circa 1850. “There are other carvings known by him,” Granby explained. “I love the red paints used to replicate her skin color, they’re 100 percent original.” Some other offerings included a carved tooth with a miner and sailor holding up a genuine gold nugget, a watercolor illustrated whale logbook and a carved pipe in the shape of a mermaid.

Representing Marion Antiques, Marion, Mass., was Nick Taradash, who was particularly enthusiastic about showing us a coco de mer, or “love nut,” a gigantic type of seed only found in the Seychelles. “They are really sought-after,” said Taradash. “They will float in the ocean, and sailors might have found them floating at sea. They were collected by sailors.” Marion Antiques also offered myriad maritime paintings, including a local Massachusetts scene from the classically trained Dutch maritime painter Albert Van Beest. Other interesting offerings were a scrimshaw tooth with a South American scene engraved on the front and a ditty box with a train engraving.

Next year’s Scrimshaw & Nautical Antiques Weekend will take place May 9-11. For additional information, 508-888-6434 or www.antiquescrimshawcollectors.org.