You may be in luck here. I have, somewhere in my knick-knack closet an example of early American scrimshaw in the form of a small dog. According to the provenance, this piece dates to 1767 (the right forepaw bears the inscription 1767) and craved by a common sailor by the name of Joshua [surname unknown] aboard the American whaling vessel Melvin F. Lawrence. The M.F. Lawrence was not apparently a highly successful ship as this scrimshaw was executed in hard cheese. Other records show that Joshua was a cabin boy so he most likely didn’t get the best of rations, which may explain the Latin phrase “Et odio varius” (I hate cheese) in scrimshaw across the dogs hind quarters.I’ll see if I can dig this piece out and post a pic if you’re interested.
You may be in luck here. I have, somewhere in my knick-knack closet an example of early American scrimshaw in the form of a small dog. According to the provenance, this piece dates to 1767 (the right forepaw bears the inscription 1767) and craved by a common sailor by the name of Joshua [surname unknown] aboard the American whaling vessel Melvin F. Lawrence. The M.F. Lawrence was not apparently a highly successful ship as this scrimshaw was executed in hard cheese. Other records show that Joshua was a cabin boy so he most likely didn’t get the best of rations, which may explain the Latin phrase “Et odio varius” (I hate cheese) in scrimshaw across the dogs hind quarters.I’ll see if I can dig this piece out and post a pic if you’re interested.