Scrimshaw "SHIP MILO". Watch holder held between... Lot 80

Scrimshaw "SHIP MILO". Watch holder held between two polished sperm whale teeth engraved with the starboard and port profiles of the whaler MILO under sail. An olive branch frieze is engraved on the upper part of each tooth. The watch holder is made of whale baleen pierced in the middle with a "light" bordered by a circle of marine ivory. At the top, it is surmounted by a "flame" and lined with marine ivory nets. On the front of the watch holder are engraved "SHIP MILO", two harpoons, foliage and geometric friezes. On the back is fixed the marine ivory "piton", the watch's support, and are engraved two harpoons, foliage and frieze. Watch holder and teeth are fixed on a varnished precious wood base, itself edged with plates, in whalebone, with moving and guilloché edges. The base rests on four feet worked in marine ivory. United States. Circa 1850. Face: 17 cm, height: 12.5 cm. Note 1: The logbook of the whaler MILO (1849 - 1851), like other objects related to the ship, is kept at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Note 2: watch-carrying scrimshaws are rare and among the scrimshaws the most sought-after pieces. This very fine example made on board the MILO, a listed whaler, part of whose history is known, makes it an exceptional museum piece. Note 3: Specimen taken from a tooth of the cetacean odontocete (Cetacea) and more precisely of the family Physeteroidea and probably of the species called Great Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) (I/A) pre-Convention. Specimen prior to 1 June 1947, in compliance with EC Rule 338/97 of 09/12/1996 art.2-W mc. For an exit from the EU a CITES re-export will be necessary, this being at the expense of the future buyer. This specimen is also included in the French Environmental Code and is exempt from the ban because of its dating.