Eldred’s – The Marine Sale
AUGUST 10-11 9:30 AM
At our Cape Cod Headquarters 1483 Route 6A, East Dennis MA
ELDREDS.COM

EAST DENNIS, MASS. — Eldred’s will offer a selection of scrimshaw and whaling-related items, as well as paintings, rare navigational instruments and more during its annual marine sale, slated for Thursday and Friday, August 10-11. The 600-lot auction will take place at Eldred’s headquarters, an antique sea captain’s house on Cape Cod’s historic Route 6A. Both auction sessions will begin at 9:30 am Eastern.

The centerpiece of the auction is the 79-lot Hellman whaling and whalecraft collection, which includes rare and unusual harpoons and other whaling collectibles. Nina and Bob Hellman were noted collectors and antiques dealers with strong ties to Nantucket. Bob Hellman (1930-2018) was considered a foremost expert in “whalecraft” — the harpoons, lances, spades and other gear used to hunt and process whales — while Nina specialized in scrimshaw and maritime art, helping shape the landmark Thomas Mittler scrimshaw collection and showcasing it in her 2013 publication Through the Eyes of the Collector.

“We are extremely proud to offer items from the collection of Bob and Nina Hellman, who in the span of 60 years assembled one of the nation’s leading whaling-related collections,” said Joshua Eldred, president of Eldred’s. “We’re certain that the wide selection in our annual sale this year will appeal both to discerning buyers and perhaps inspire new collectors as well.”

Highlights from the collection include two signed Greener harpoon bow guns ($15/20,000 and $20/28,000), a China trade oil portrait of the American clipper ship Endeavor entering Hong Kong harbor by Lai Sung (fl 1850-1885), carrying an estimate of $30/50,000, a rare double oarlock used on a whaleboat ($1,5/2,500) and “So. Pacific…The Perils of Whaling” by Ralph Eugene Cahoon Jr. (American, 1910-1982), carrying an estimate of $20/30,000.

After Bob Hellman’s death, many items from the vast and comprehensive collection were dispersed to museums and institutions, notably the Nantucket Whaling Museum, but a significant portion will be coming up for auction at Eldred’s over the next two years, said Bill Bourne, head of the firm’s marine department. He also noted the collection in its entirety will be preserved in an online database launching this fall, which will provide an invaluable resource for collectors and scholars for years to come.

The sale’s first session on Thursday is devoted entirely to scrimshaw and whaling. The top lot is the iconic “Japan” polychrome scrimshaw whale’s tooth, circa 1825-29, by Edward Burdett ($125/175,000). The first documented piece of American scrimshaw, done while Burdett was aboard the whaleship Japan, the tooth showcases Burdett’s expert workmanship and attention to detail. Research done on this particular tooth yielded significant advancements in scrimshaw scholarship and it has since been published widely and served as the lead image for the 2022 exhibit “Scrimshaw: The Whaler’s Art” at the Cahoon Museum of Art, Cotuit, Mass.

Other notable scrimshaw whale’s teeth include an example by the Vignette Engraver, featuring the typical assortment of whaling vignettes that coined the otherwise-anonymous scrimshander’s moniker ($50/70,000), a large tooth with a depiction of Venus mourning Adonis engraved by William Lewis Roderick, circa 1847-56, ($25/35,000) and a pair of whale’s teeth engraved with British empire motifs, circa 1855, likely by a sailor aboard the HMS Iris, also with an estimate of $25/35,000.

A variety of busks, crimpers, boxes and other utilitarian scrimshaw are also included in the sale, highlighted by a polychrome whalebone busk by the Banknote Engraver ($5/10,000, a whaleman-made Nineteenth Century kitchen knife box with unusual whale ivory details ($7/12,000), and a pierced whalebone swing-handled basket, expected to fetch $4/6,000.

Most of the scrimshaw is sourced from private collections, including two polychrome panbone panels from a Rhode Island collection, one depicting a whaling scene ($15/25,000) and the other showing a skeleton observing two shipwrecked sailors ($8/12,00). The shipwreck scene is perhaps one of the most unusual pieces of scrimshaw to come to market in recent history and has a particularly impressive provenance trail; it bears a label for the personal collection of Robert C. Eldred Sr, who founded Eldred’s in 1947, it is marked for the Meylert Armstrong collection, and it once belonged to E. Norman Flayderman, who illustrated it in his book Scrimshaw and Scrimshanders, Whales and Whalemen. Several other pieces in the sale also have provenance to the Armstrong, Flayderman, Cohen, Johnson, Mittler and Vardeman collections.

The Hellman collection opens the auction’s second session on Friday, August 11, and is followed by paintings, ship models, prisoner-of-war material, early Nantucket baskets, navigational instruments, America’s Cup memorabilia, historic naval items and more.

A sale preview will be conducted Wednesday, August 9, from 10 am to 4:30 pm, and by appointment at 1483 Route 6A. For information, www.eldreds.com or 508-385-3116.

Iconic “JAPAN Bound to the USA” Scrimshaw Whale’s Tooth by Edward Burdett, Circa 1825-1829 one of more than 200 pieces of important scrimshaw, many with Armstrong, Flayderman, Johnson, Cohen or other notable provenance
featuring the collection of Bob and Nina Hellman
At our Cape Cod Headquarters 1483 Route 6A, East Dennis
Catalog available online or by mail
Preview August 9 + by appointment
Hellman Collection
Whaling Irons
Whalebone Basket
18th Century Ship’s Bell
“Driving to Market” by Thomas Hoyne
Ivah W. Spinney “War and Peace” Eagle Plaques
Steam Model of a Runabout, attr. Boucher
Early Quadrant one of more than 75 instruments
Busk
ELDRED’S AUCTIONEERS • EST 1947
CAPE COD, GREATER BOSTON + MYSTIC, CT. I 508-385-3116 I ELDREDS.COM