Title

Panbone Ditty Box

Date19th Century

Mediumwhale skeletal bone, wood, metal

Dimensions3 1/4 × 7 1/8 × 5 3/8 in. (8.3 × 18.1 × 13.7 cm)

Object number1923.6.44

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionWooden top and bottom, panbone sides and skirt with crenilated carved top, polychrome engraved on all panbone outer surfaces. Sides: An urn with a flowering plant; a spreadeagle atop a globe, with arrows and talons, crossed USA flags, with a ribband inscribed "E. PLURIBUS. UNUM"; panoramic shorescape of two ships and a brig, with land and houses in the background; a palm grove, with a woman leaning on a stone monument or well that is surmounted by an urn or water vessel, flanked by a large urn; surmounted and separated by borders of leafy vines; a circumferential stripe-and-dot border at the bottom. Skirt: Serpentine leafy vine, surmounted by groups of tulips (10 remaining, of an original 15). Metal fastenings.

Associated with Abbie E. Ricketson (c1855-after 1930), nee Abbie [Abigail E. Dexter], wife of Charles B. Ricketson, a steamboat captain of Fall River and Providence. (See 1923.6.41 and sequel).

Breaks in the top portions of the panbone skirt.ProvenanceAbbie E. Ricketson (Mrs. Charles B. Ricketson) (c1855-after 1930), of Fall River, Providence, and Rehoboth, Mass.; Estate of Nathan C. Hathaway (1851-c1923).

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