The image that the word scrimshaw conjures up is the painstaking etching on ivory or bone. The formal definition will take us back to an ancient indigenous American craft, later adopted by the whale hunters of the early 1800s. Long voyages could be monotonous and whale teeth and jawbones were in abundance on these ships. Whalers took to creating their own art form and soon whale teeth were used as currency with carved units being traded in various ports of the world. However the origin of the word Scrimshaw is obscure; one interpretation has it derived from the Dutch word meaning ‘to waste one’s time.’
    In collecting terms the genre is given a wider interpretation as folk art; natural objects unaltered by the artwork executed on them.
    ‘The emphasis I place is on the technique rather than the object,’ explains Mark Dennis, curator of the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, London, ‘and so long as the original object remains unaltered except for the artwork applied, it will qualify to be classified as folk art.’ Included under this definition are not only carved whale’s teeth and walrus and buffalo horns but also carved or inscribed nautilus and other mollusc shells, and even coconuts.
    Grand Lodge has a splendid representation of each of these objects. The most striking piece in the collection is a superbly engraved large nautilus shell with its natural extended curves enhancing the beauty of the artwork on it. It is mounted for display on a second piece of shell. As is usual with these pieces, the decorative handiwork has been etched with a penknife.
    The design is by C. E. Wood whose name appears on the piece. Another of his works, dated 1845 depicts the royal coat of arms, flanked by a lion and a unicorn and is decorated with a multitude of familiar Masonic symbols. Along the side of the body of the shell are images of two well known ships of the period: SS Great Western, the first steamship purposely built for crossing the Atlantic, and the SS Great Britain, the first ocean-going ship with an iron hull and a screw propeller.
    An impressive fourteen-inch Indian water buffalo powder horn is decorated with emblems of many Orders beyond the Craft, including the Royal Arch and the Maltese cross of he Knights Templar. The brass lid for each has the name John Patrick 94th Regt. engraved on it. It is logical to presume that he was the engraver and owner of the item, which in this instance has a utilitarian function and will have actually been used as a powder horn.
    Because horn does not stain or absorb smells and odours it has always been a popular material for drinking vessels. There are three good examples in the Grand Lodge collection. The preparation is simple, with the cow horn having one end shrunk and closed with a silver base, whilst a metal or silver rim is placed at the other end to create a drinking glass. One example celebrates the Battle of Trafalgar fought on 21 October 1805 with an image of Nelson’s ship HMS Victory. The Enter’d Prentices song by Mathew Birkhead is quoted in full, taken from Anderson’s first constitutions of 1717.
    One may think that engraved coconuts may fall outside the realm of scrimshaw but the fact that they were cleaned and prepared solely for purposes of decoration and not as utilitarian objects, classifies them as folk art. The special texture, colour and shape of a coconut, when well engraved with raised images and figures, makes them extraordinarily attractive. A half coconut has been etched to represent a human face, the background decorated with squares, compasses and similar emblem; Another shows the figure of a man with a hat, cloak and staff; again masonic symbols are dispersed in the back and foreground. A metal stopper and chain lugs indicate that this may have been used as a drinking vessel. Once more the commercial aspect comes into play and here the duplication of identical images show these to have been commercially available.
    The last of the genre that is of particular beauty is an eight-inch long cowry shell. The shell, pink and white, would have been attractive in its own right but the raised engraving on it, delicately executed with almost fastidious detail, makes it an object of true beauty; a key piece in the Grand Lodge Museum Collection of scrimshaw and other folk art.

We would like to thank Curator, Mark Dennis, and assistant-curator, Andrew Tucker, of the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, Freemasons’ Hall, London. All photographs by Michael Baigent.