Sailor's Needle Holder ca 1890
Hung from the belt, these were sailor made from materials at hand and no two are the same. Used to keep the heavy needles used to repair sails and other canvas readily at hand, this piece is made from an animal horn and has an unusual ball finial. This is also an excellent example of the owners knot tying skills for the hanger that went over the belt. 
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Price $175
Hand Tooled Needle Holder ca late 1800s
This needle holder was hand turned and scribed with an intricate design. Each end has a “dimple” on the outside and “pimple” on the inside that were used to position the pieces for turning. There is an age crack on both halves which is visible in the photo of the assembled piece. Click on photos for enlarged view.
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Price $85
Scrimshaw Ivory Neckerchief Slide ca mid-1800s
This neckerchief slide is a most unusual piece and is carved from a single piece of ivory. It is scribed with a Shield and Wreath design and is hand colored. Just the thing to catch an admiring eye while on shore leave! The rectangular front piece measures 
approximately 1 & 9/16 inches wide and 1& 5/16 inches high. The ring on the back stands out approximately ¾ of an inch.
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Scrimshaw Match Safe – Ivory ca mid- to late 1800s
Presented here is an extremely fine example of the sailor’s art of scrimshaw. Meticulously made and pinned together with six brass pins on both sides, a great deal of skill and thought went into its creation. For example, the match safe has “doors” that open on each end, but each door has an eccentric hinge that presses against a flat strip inside the match safe which acts as a spring. The door resists opening until the eccentric passes over the flat spring. Then it pops open and stays open until purposely closed.
One face is very neatly inscribed with the name “Mildbad”, but a search of the internet has not given any clues as to whether Mildbad was a person, a ship or a place.
The striker strip is fairly well worn, but would probably still strike a match. There is some wear to the ivory on both surfaces just above and below the striker strip from being slipped into a pocket. Click on photos for an enlarged view.
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Price $600
Scrimshaw Ivory Trinket Box ca mid- to late 1800s
Another fine example of the sailor’s art of scrimshaw, this little trinket box appears to be made out of just two pieces of ivory – one for the lid and another for the body of the box.
It measures approximately 1 and 5/8th inches wide by 1 and 1/8th inches deep by 13/16th of an inch high. A geometric design is carved into five sides and there is the very unusual feature of an inset red star on the lid. The star and hinge are affixed with brass pins. There is a very small age crack, of about 1/16th of an inch, on the right top edge
that is shown in the photo. Click on photos for an enlarged view. 
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Price $600
