Mystery Artist #15 has created what a pendant of what appears to be a piece of kelp floating under water, holding firmly to a rock on the bottom of the ocean. The kelp motif would be known to any scuba diver or snorkeler.
From the LaConner Washington state area, the owner would love to know more about the artist.
Beautifully shaped piece of ivory with curved edges and a nice patina, which is almost certainly mammoth ivory. Does anyone know the artist? Please send comments below.
We’ve received several inquiries looking for artists who have created scrimshaw, and we’ll be posting them here over the next several days. Our first one is a set of pistol grips signed “R. Heinrich”. One side is a falcon sitting on a branch, while the other side has a falcon in flight
The work on these grips was commissioned around 1981 by the owner’s father. Anyone who knows anything about the artist? The owner would love to know if they are still actively scrimshawing or of any other works they have created. You can respond in the comments section. Thanks for looking!
We have had a couple of responses regarding “Mystery Artist #6” with the signature “Mateus”. Two different people have responded one mentioning that the work was by her father, the other is in the process of showing her grandfather a picture of the work, noting “…there are a lot of Mateus’s.” We’ll keep you posted as the story unfolds! (original post: https://www.scrimshaw.com/mystery-artist-6-mateus/)
Just in, Isabel has this to say about the scrimshaw pictured to the left:
“My father just turned 84 this month. He is an amazing artist, he sold a lot of it to the USA. At one point the business men that bought it said that it was going to the museum that Bob Barker opened, but I have never followed up on that.” I would love to know how that one was acquired. I used to watch him do the scrimshaw when I was a little girl.
“My father is from Algarve in Portugal…” “…My father does not speak English very well, he used to speak a lot better before he suffered strokes, but even so he still does his art, not scrimshaw only, he stopped doing that when it was against the law to hunt whales.
“In Portugal he made caravels (old sail boats) from bull horn and sold a lot of those as well. He makes knives – the whole thing from the blade to the handle where he has [done] some scrimshaw as well. He now makes flowers from pieces of copper or stainless steel. His creative mind does not stop, even now.”
Thank you Isabel for sharing this and our heartfelt best to your father! So glad he is still creating works of art.
We are curious if the other emailer is related and will post further if anything develops.
A new mystery artist with the initials “LS LLR or LLB” as far as we can make out has surfaced and we hope someone has more information about them for the owner of this beautiful work of art. The high-res images can be found on http://imageshack.com/i/1n21fmj where you can go to the right hand side and access the images directly. This 6.25″ tooth was originally owned by a gentleman living in San Francisco, and depicts the Lahaina Kaanapali sugar cane train. It’s origin may well have been Hawaii. The original owner was a train buff and had a poster that may have been the art this was based on, as well as a straight blade shaver with an ivory handle that also has a train artfully scrimshawed into it.
The artwork is now in the hands of the gentleman’s descendants who would love to get in contact with the artist and find out more about the artwork as well as the artist. If anyone has any information please either add a comment to this post or email aperkins@scrimshaw.com and put “Mystery Artist 13” in the subject line.
Al Doucette, former owner of the Whale’s Tale in New Bedford, MA has confirmed the artist as Peter LaJoie Thank you Al, the owner will be real pleased!
had done some research online and the only scrimshander I can find
with the initials PL is Peter LaJoie. I was given this by a
boyfriend around 1976 or 1977; during high school in Cupertino,
California. I gave it the needle test and it passed with no smoke
or smell! I read that it was rumored Peter lost his eyesight and
taught his daughters to carry on the craft. Could this be an
earlier work; before he lost sight?
I hope the pictures are okay, I’m a bit of a novice.
And, thanks for any information you can give!