Antique Sailors Ditty Puzzle Box Old Inlaid Scrimshaw

Antiques : Folk Art : Puzzle Box

 

This is a unique antique hand made American Folk Art box, which is a form of art known as scrimshaw.

According to wiktionary, the definition of scrimshaw is:

The manufacture of handcrafts by sailors on long voyages, especially as whittled from wood or bone; An item produced by scrimshaw; To make an item of scrimshaw.

This box was made by a sailor at sea, and is identified as such, with an inscription on the bottom which reads: "Japan Sea, June 9th, 1863"

It is common knowledge that sailors on long voyages in the 19th century, would make make use of small items, like scraps of wood, horn, bone, iron, brass, or anything else they found suitable for use, and used these raw materials, to make all kinds of useful and decorative little objects, which they could sell for money when the ship was in port.

It was also standard to have cattle brought on board sailing ships for long voyages as a source of fresh meat for the crew. These cattle also supplied the crew with horn and bone which was commonly used to make many different small items.

This little box was made of wood, horn, bone, brass, and copper, all of which were readily available to crew members on 19th century sailing vessels.

The side of the box was made with a single piece of horn, which was cut to even thickness, trimmed to length and width, and then heated and bent around a form. When it cooled, the two ends were connected with a small brass plate and tiny brass pins. Then the top and bottom of the box were connected with three copper pins, which have had the ends mushroomed, to hold the box together. The top was inlaid with bone and horn to hide the ends of the copper pins on the top. The coin slot is made of bone. The bottom is inscribed with a hand carved inscription "Japan Sea June 9th 1863". The tiny brass plate used to hold the two ends of horn together is engraved with the initials E. S. C..

All you have to do, is find out what ship was in the Japan Sea, on June 9th, 1863, and check the crew roster until you find a sailor with the initials E. S. C., and you have your maker! (maybe) :)

I also assume that there is some sort of simple mechanism on the inside, which can be activated to open the box, but I have no idea how to do it, so I'm leaving it alone!

This is in excellent original condition, with the original finish, but worms have eaten some holes in the horn sides, and there is a bit of missing horn inlay.

This weighs 1/8 lb.

This measures 1 3/8 inches high and 4 1/8 inches across.

Item ID: 120