Whale of a Tale
This past weekend, our husbands were busy finishing up a record they’ve been working on for over a year, so Erin and I were orphans. Clearly this meant that we had to find more opportunities to blow our money on old sh*t. We succeeded in this mission.
A few weeks ago, I had read about this Antique Expo that was going to be happening in Southfield, so Erin and I decided to check it out on Saturday morning.
On our way there, Erin had speculated that this event might be a little too baller for us, and she was right. It was a huge event with lots of different dealers and collectors, and things were priced much higher than you’d find at an estate sale.
Luckily, there were a lot of rich people perusing the displays, so the sellers were in luck. Erin and I aren’t rich, but we don’t exactly look like we stepped off the set of Newsies either…
…so I’m not sure why we were so consistently ignored at the various booths.
I mean, little did they know that one of us will pay some fat cash for the right piece of porcelain. AND we each had to pay $8 to step foot in the joint… so c'mon!
Anyway, we walked around and looked at stuff while people ignored us. There was some really cool stuff at this expo, but unfortunately, my pockets were not deep enough to buy most of the stuff that was interesting to me. Here is a table that I was coveting:
It looked cooler in person. And that peace sign isn’t part of it. But anyway, it was $500.
Here is a leather rhino that Erin was coveting:
He was about $900. [Edit from Erin: The tag clearly says $850.]
In the end, I bought some old overpriced postcards and photographs from this person:
…as well as some old metal stamps for Adam that I forgot to photograph.
Some other cool things I saw:
A bird mansion…
and a collection of miniature books.
Erin ended up purchasing a piece of scrimshaw from a smooth operator. I think it’s illegal to sell ivory or something. Hence, the title of this post. I’ll let her tell you more about it.
-Sarah
Update from Erin: It’s true that people treated us like vagabonds at this sale, which is such a bummer and awkward. Oh well.
It is also true that the stuff at this show was pretty baller. The leather rhino that Sarah mentioned earlier is a SUPER RARE piece sold by Abercrombie & Fitch in the 50s/60s. People go mad collecting these, hence the crazy price. I only knew what this was because Zach has been coveting a similar elephant for forever.
I was empty handed until the end of this sale, when I noticed a piece of scrimshaw tucked away in a showcase. This particular piece was a sperm whale tooth with a scrimshaw whale design. It has been a dream of mine to own some real scrimshaw, but it is really really expensive…not to mention illegal if it’s whale. Since 1973, it is illegal to sell whale ivory, unless it is an antiquity (over 100 years old). You still see scrimshaw on elk bone and replica whale teeth, but most authentic whale bone scrimshaw is in museums or personal collections.
The seller told me that he bought the piece from a zoology professor at MSU downsizing his collection. There was no price tag on the piece, so he quickly spouted out that he would take $150 for it. I got him down to $140 and was thrilled. I think I got a mega deal here, since REPLICA scrimshaw sells for that much on ebay.
And at a Nantucket scrimshaw gallery, pieces sell for over $1,000. My piece is definitely not as old as those super high-priced pieces, but I do think that $140 was a steal.
I went home and made a cool wood stand for the tooth and am now displaying it proudly.
Ok, and before anyone gets hot and bothered, I am a Whale Wars fan. That said, whaling used to be an important necessity, and the culture of whalers is fascinating. I’m not down with the modern day hunt for endangered whales, but I am SO DOWN WITH THIS OLD SCRIMSHAW. If you have any, hit me up ASAP. I’ll pay porcelain prices for that shiz.
-Erin