#69 • 1989 Iditarod Presentation Award - Scrimshaw Walrus Tusk by Joe Blatchford

Part of September 2024 Premier Auction (live auction by Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals)

High bid $1,000.00

Status: Sold

Category: Ethnographic Objects

A beautiful scrimshaw walrus tusk presented to the winner of the 1989 Iditarod, Joe Runyan, with two vignettes, one of a fifteen-dog sled team leading their musher and sled, the other commemorating the Iditarod Trail International Sled Dog Race c.1989 as won by Mr. Runyan in just over eleven days of racing against a strong field of competitors; Runyan broke Susan Butcher's three-race winning streak by edging her out by sixty-four minutes to take home the win. Signed upon the narrow tip by Iñupiat scrimshaw artist, Joseph Dexter Blatchford (1940-2009), the wide end is capped with a knob of fossilized tusk. Entire piece measures approximately 25.5" x 3" x 1.75" tall. The exact circumstances of the award remain unclear, and it is suspected this represented a gift from a sponsor or village.