GUEST: I brought a box that my father's cousin gave me. They went to Asia to live in 1915 and stayed there until '36. In '54, when I got married, I lived in Harrington. Anne, she would call me to do her handyman work. And I never charged her anything. And she gave me this in 1960. And she died the next year, so I know nothing about it. And she said, "It's not cheap. It's a, it's valuable."
APPRAISER: What do you think it is?
GUEST: I thought it was a ivory box, it...
APPRAISER: The easy leap of faith is to say it might have been made in Asia.
GUEST: That's my thoughts.
APPRAISER: Yeah.
GUEST: It was full of shells. She told me she walked the coastline and picked up the shells and put them in there.
APPRAISER: Okay.
GUEST: So wherever they was living, they were close to water.
APPRAISER: Okay, well, what we have, what you're looking at, is a scrimshawed, whalebone New England sailor's ditty box-- they call them ditty boxes.
GUEST: Okay. Ditty box.
APPRAISER: Yeah, because the sailors put personal, small personal items in there.
GUEST: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: And this is really a beautiful one.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: You can see these wonderful floral arrangements.
GUEST: Oh, yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER: There's a small scene there.
GUEST: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: A memorial scene. See this wonderful construction with the fingers?
GUEST: Oh, yes. Yeah.
APPRAISER: And how they're put together with these beautiful little nails? And it's fully decorated.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: So, this would have been made by a sailor, probably off a whaling ship, somewhere around 1830, 1840.
GUEST: Oh, yeah?
APPRAISER: Things move around the world.
GUEST: Oh, yeah.
APPRAISER: Whalers moved around the world.
GUEST: Oh, yes.
APPRAISER: So, we were whaling all over the world, and I can't rule it out, but for cataloguing it, it's not logical to say that this was made and left in Asia, and your relatives picked it up.
GUEST: Mm-hmm, right, I have no idea. (murmurs)
APPRAISER: Yeah, I, I would think they purchased it either before or after they returned. It has a beautiful lid, and they're trying to show this wonderful exotic wood, which is mahogany.
GUEST: Uh-huh, I thought it was.
APPRAISER: And then you turn it over, and you see the thin layer of whale bone.
GUEST: Mm-hmm. Of whale bone.
APPRAISER: Now, this was not easy to make. This came from the jawbone of a sperm whale.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: And it's called the pan bone, P-A-N. And they had tools for actually cutting the pan bone into thin strips.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: They would then steam the strips, and they became more pliable.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: And they were able to bend them around a form and then nail them very fastidiously...
GUEST: Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER: ...and form these boxes. These are very highly sought-after, and this is a very, very good one. There are parts of it that could be better. But in terms of this particular box, in today's market, which has been a little challenged, I would feel very comfortable putting a retail valuation of $6,000 to $8,000.
GUEST: Oh, wow. I had no idea. That's why I brought it. I, as I say, I got it in '60, and I knew nothing about it. So I, that's why I come to the ROADSHOW. I wanted to learn something.
