1 00:00:02,066 --> 00:00:05,600 GUEST: I brought a box that my father's cousin gave me. They went to Asia to live in 1915 2 00:00:09,133 --> 00:00:14,133 and stayed there until '36. In '54, when I got married, I lived in Harrington. Anne, 3 00:00:16,133 --> 00:00:19,766 as I say, she was a cousin to my father. She would call me to do her handyman work. And 4 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:26,266 I never charged her anything. And she gave me this in 1960. And she died the next year, 5 00:00:28,266 --> 00:00:32,766 so I know nothing about it. And she said, "It's not cheap. It's, it's valuable." That's 6 00:00:33,700 --> 00:00:35,200 all I know about it. 7 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:36,366 APPRAISER: Okay. So they had come back to the United States. 8 00:00:36,366 --> 00:00:37,633 GUEST: Yes. 9 00:00:37,633 --> 00:00:38,600 APPRAISER: And where were they living? 10 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:39,866 GUEST: Harrington, Delaware. 11 00:00:39,866 --> 00:00:41,133 APPRAISER: What do you think it is? 12 00:00:41,133 --> 00:00:43,166 GUEST: I thought it was a ivory box, it... 13 00:00:43,166 --> 00:00:46,266 APPRAISER: The easy leap of faith is to say it might have been made in Asia. 14 00:00:46,266 --> 00:00:47,433 GUEST: That's my thoughts. 15 00:00:47,433 --> 00:00:49,500 APPRAISER: Yeah. 16 00:00:49,500 --> 00:00:52,966 GUEST: It was full of shells. She told me she walked the coastline and picked up the 17 00:00:52,966 --> 00:00:55,433 shells and put them in there. 18 00:00:55,433 --> 00:00:57,100 APPRAISER: Okay. 19 00:00:57,100 --> 00:00:59,233 GUEST: So wherever they was living, they were close to water. 20 00:00:59,233 --> 00:01:03,566 APPRAISER: Okay, well, what we have, what you're looking at, is a scrimshawed, whalebone 21 00:01:06,433 --> 00:01:10,433 New England sailor's ditty box-- they call them ditty boxes 22 00:01:10,433 --> 00:01:12,500 GUEST: Ditty box. 23 00:01:12,500 --> 00:01:15,033 APPRAISER: Yeah, because the sailors put personal, small personal items in there. 24 00:01:15,033 --> 00:01:17,100 GUEST: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 25 00:01:17,100 --> 00:01:20,866 APPRAISER: And this is really a beautiful one. It's fully developed. I'm going to show 26 00:01:20,866 --> 00:01:21,866 the backside. 27 00:01:21,866 --> 00:01:23,366 GUEST: Mm-hmm. 28 00:01:23,366 --> 00:01:25,200 APPRAISER: You can see these wonderful floral arrangements. 29 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:26,733 GUEST: Oh, yeah, yeah. 30 00:01:26,733 --> 00:01:28,600 APPRAISER: There's a small scene there. 31 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:30,533 GUEST: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 32 00:01:30,533 --> 00:01:32,233 APPRAISER: A memorial scene. See this wonderful construction with the fingers? 33 00:01:32,233 --> 00:01:34,333 GUEST: Oh, yes. Yeah. 34 00:01:34,333 --> 00:01:37,933 APPRAISER: And how they're put together with these beautiful little nails? And it's fully 35 00:01:37,933 --> 00:01:38,933 decorated. 36 00:01:38,933 --> 00:01:41,033 GUEST: Yeah. 37 00:01:41,033 --> 00:01:44,933 APPRAISER: So, this would have been made by a sailor, probably off a whaling ship, somewhere 38 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:48,266 around 1830, 1840. 39 00:01:48,266 --> 00:01:50,166 GUEST: Oh, yeah? 40 00:01:50,166 --> 00:01:52,000 APPRAISER: Things move around the world. 41 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:53,200 GUEST: Oh, yeah. 42 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:54,000 APPRAISER: Whalers moved around the world. 43 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,133 GUEST: Oh, yes. 44 00:01:56,133 --> 00:01:59,800 APPRAISER: So, we were whaling all over the world, and I can't rule it out, but for cataloguing 45 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:04,766 it, it's not logical to say that this was made and left in Asia, and your relatives 46 00:02:05,700 --> 00:02:07,766 picked it up. 47 00:02:07,766 --> 00:02:11,300 GUEST: Right, I have no idea. Yeah, I would think they purchased it either before or after 48 00:02:11,300 --> 00:02:13,333 they returned. 49 00:02:13,333 --> 00:02:17,300 APPRAISER: It has a beautiful lid, and they're trying to show this wonderful exotic wood, 50 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:20,600 which is mahogany. 51 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:22,633 GUEST: Uh-huh, I thought it was. 52 00:02:22,633 --> 00:02:26,766 APPRAISER: And then you turn it over, and you see the thin layer of whale bone. 53 00:02:26,766 --> 00:02:28,833 GUEST: Of whale bone. 54 00:02:28,833 --> 00:02:32,933 APPRAISER: Now, this was not easy to make. This came from the jawbone of a sperm whale. 55 00:02:32,933 --> 00:02:35,066 GUEST: Okay. 56 00:02:35,066 --> 00:02:38,933 APPRAISER: And it's called the pan bone, P-A-N. And they had tools for actually cutting the 57 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:41,466 pan bone into thin strips. 58 00:02:41,466 --> 00:02:43,533 GUEST: Mm-hmm. 59 00:02:43,533 --> 00:02:46,466 APPRAISER: They would then steam the strips, and they became more pliable. 60 00:02:46,466 --> 00:02:48,600 GUEST: Yup. 61 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,000 APPRAISER: And they were able to bend them around a form and then nail them very fastidiously... 62 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,133 GUEST: Yeah. 63 00:02:54,133 --> 00:02:57,966 APPRAISER: ...and form these boxes. These are very highly sought after, and this is 64 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,000 a very, very good one. There are parts of it that could be better. But in terms of this 65 00:03:04,933 --> 00:03:08,200 particular box, in today's market, which has been a little challenged, I would feel very 66 00:03:09,633 --> 00:03:13,566 comfortable putting a retail valuation of $6,000 to $8,000. 67 00:03:13,566 --> 00:03:18,566 GUEST: Oh, wow. I had no idea. That's why I brought it. I, as I say, I got it in '60, 68 00:03:20,866 --> 00:03:24,533 and I knew nothing about it. So I, that's why I come to the ROADSHOW. I wanted to learn 69 00:03:24,533 --> 00:03:24,733 something.