Susan's Tooth

Datecirca 1829

Mediumwhale ivory

Dimensions5 5/8 × 2 1/2 × 1 1/8 in. (14.3 × 6.4 × 2.9 cm)

Donor credit lineGiven in memory of David Anthony Brayton and Dorothy Paine Brayton

Object number1993.54.4

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionMonochrome engraved both sides. Recto: Starboard broadside portrait of a full-rigged ship cutting-in a whale, surmounted by the inscription in a riband "The Susan on The coast of Japan"; spread eagle with olive branch and arrows in the talons; riband in beak inscribed "E PLURIBUS / UNUM"; crossed USA flags. On the edge below: "Death to the living long life to the killers / Success to sailors wives & greasy luck to whalers." Verso: Starboard broadside portrait of the same vessel, surmounted by the inscription in a riband "The Susan on her homeward bound passage"; lighthouse with tender's home; fouled anchor. On edge below: "Ship Susan of Nantucket." Vine border around base. Ridley #30S-3.

Spouse Mary Pinkham Folger
Father David Myrick
Mother Peggy Barrett
Children Frederick
Birth 27 Apr 1808 Nantucket, Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA
Death 21 Aug 1862 Sennett, Cayuga, New York, USA
Residence 1840 Nantucket, Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA

Ref: Ridley & Frank, Frederick Myrick Catalogue Raisonne, 2000, 30s-3, p. 35; S.M. Frank, Dict. Scrim. Artists, 1991, pp 96f; see also Ridley & West, Frederick Myrick Physical Characteristics of the Scrimshaw, 2000, passim.

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