#75 • An Exceptional Antique Scrimshaw Bow Drill

Part of December 2025 Premier Auction (live auction by Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals)

High bid $2,300.00

Status: Sold

Category: Ethnographic Objects

A fine Alaska Native arched tusk specimen engraved with a story panel scene, dated from approximately the 19th Century. Tusk is specifically a bow drill, an essential tool for Northern Indigenous carvers, used by attaching a leather piece through the hole on one end, then wrapping it around a wooden stake, which held a pointed drill tip, the other end of the leather attached to the opposite end of the bow. The wooden spear would likely be held by a mouthpiece; the drill tip would then engrave into a bone, tusk, or antler specimen using the friction of the bow moving back and forth. The bows were often finely and ornately decorated, mostly with the artist's and hunters' accomplishments. This piece was acquired by our seller from the Beazley Collection of England, an archive of academic papers, photographs, and historical wares, vases and pottery specifically, collected by Professor of Archeology at Oxford University, Sir John D. Beazley (1885-1970). This bow drill is narrower and more delicate than what is typically seen in tusks; it measures approximately 14.75" in total length.