Title

BFH ditty box

DateCirca 1860

Mediumbaleen, metal, wood

Dimensions3 1/4 × 6 1/8 × 4 1/2 in. (8.3 × 15.6 × 11.4 cm)

Object number1948.30.374

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionA small oval ditty box with a wooden bottom and a wooden lid and skirt. The lid is faintly embossed with the initials "B.F.H." The sides are a double layer of baleen with a layer of paper sandwiched between, thus highlighting the outer layer of pierced work. There is a five thumb-shaped rattails (of which one is broken off and absent, and with it a strip of baleen and associated paper liner equivalent to one-fifth the height and one -third the circumference) and non-ferrous fastenings. The pierced work (with engraved/incised highlights) includes a large broadside sperm whale and a pinwheel, miniatures of a human figure, a bust (statue), leaves and flowers, ivy, hearts, a tomahawk, a matchlock, a sickle, an arrow, etc. Also incised with images of trees and of a man climbing a palm tree.

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