$24,885
Engraved Whale's Tooth, attributed to Edward Burdett (1805-33), the obverse depicting an English whale ship with whaleboats, spouting and diving whales, the reverse depicting the whale ship "Daniel the FOURTH of London," identified in engraved inscription below, accented with intaglio cutting, with triangle and dot border, lg. 5 3/4 in. Literature: See Frank, Stuart M., DICTIONARY OF SCRIMSHAW ARTISTS, Mystic Seaport, Connecticut, 1991. Edward Burdett was born in Nantucket in 1805. The son of a merchant sea captain, Burdett went whaling at age 17 in the Nantucket ship "Foster" (1822-24). He served as a deck officer (probably second mate) in the "William Tell" (1829-33) and ultimately met a tragic, premature death in November 1833, when ... Burdett became fouled in a harpoon line and was dragged overboard and drowned. Another tooth by Burdett depicting the "Elizabeth" and "Daniel IV" is noted in EDWARD BURDETT 1805-1833, AMERICA'S FIRST SCRIMSHAW ARTIST by Joshua Basseches and Stuart M. Frank, Kendall Whaling Museum Monograph Series No. 5, p. 9. This tooth depicts the Daniel IV in flames and the Elizabeth, the vessel that rescued Daniel's crew. Skinner sold a similarly decorated tooth by Burdett in sale 1877, October 1998, as lot #120. There are a couple of minor age cracks at the base of the tooth.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2008-11-01
