These high-end pieces are all one-of-a-kind works of art where the design is adapted to the shape of the piece (or tip of the tusk) of fossil mammoth or walrus ivory. Many times I have pieces polished the way they are found (in the frozen arctic) and then have a customized stand made for it. The beauty of the fossil ivory piece often inspires me to do a certain scene or design. Other times I have a specific shape of fossil ivory inlayed into hardwood with a stand. Some of these pieces are commissioned, some are not.

It took me more than 20 years of doing smaller pieces before I felt secure enough with this art form to tackle large pieces that can take one to many weeks to finish. Special commissions are always welcome but have to be given sufficient time. Enjoy!

Grizzly with Cub  

Hand-engraved and painted image on fossilized mammoth ivory  inlayed in 14/20 Goldfill bezel and cocobolo wood. Signed and numbered by the artist. Loosely mounted so it can be taken off the cocobolo and ivory stand. Artwork can be turned into brooch as well.

Dimensions: 1 5/8 by 2 1/4 inch.

Price : $275.00

"Walking Grizzly Bear"

Hand-engraved and painted image

on a fossil walrus tooth on stand.

Dimensions: 2x1/4 by 1 inches for

the tooth and 1x1/8 for the stand

 which is hand made from kokobolo

wood and inlayed with

fossil mammoth ivory.

Sold for $400.00

Panda With His Mom

"Panda With His Mom", is a hand-engraved piece and painted image on a fossil walrus tooth on stand.

Dimensions: 2x1/4 by 1x1/2 inches for the tooth and 1x1/2 for the stand which is hand made from kokobolo wood and inlayed with

fossil mammoth ivory.

Sold for $475.00

Panda Family with Bamboo

"Panda Family with Bamboo", hand-engraved and painted image on a fossil walrus tooth measuring 1x1/2 by 3x1/4 inches.

It was sold on a stand

(no photo available of the stand)

for $650.00

Hudson Bay Polar Bear
"Hudson Bay Polar Bear", is a hand-engraved and painted image created from

a customers' picture of a polar bear; on a fossilized walrus tooth.

Dimensions with the stand are 4x1/2 by 1x1/4 inches.

The stand is hand-made out of Indian ebony wood and fossilized mammoth ivory.

Commissioned piece sold for $750.00

"Sad Polar Bear"

The "Sad Polar Bear", piece is hand-engraved and painted image on fossil walrus tooth. Dimensions for tooth 2x1/4 1x1/2 inches.

The stand measures 1x1/2 by 2 inches and is hand made from Brazilian kokobolo wood

inlayed with fossilized walrus ivory.

It was sold for $500.00

        " Polar Bear With Three Cubs"

This lovely one-of-kind piece of scrimshaw art called " Polar Bear With Three Cubs" is a hand-engraved and painted image of a mother polar bear with her three cubs on a rare and splendid specimen of fossilized walrus tusk.        

Polar bears usually only have one or two cubs per litter, so this one is taking care of a niece or nephew in addition of her own cubs.

The piece is 6x1/2 inches high including the base, which is custom made out of kokobolo wood and fossil walrus ivory. The widest part is 2 inches. The first two close up photos show different stages of the progressing artwork and the last one is the piece on the stand. 

Note how the natural texture of the so called "bark" at the bottom of the tusk, is incorporated into the design. This takes a lot of planning, vision and imagination.

The piece is part of an ongoing series of Polar Bear Art in Scrimshaw, featured in the December issue of Teddy Bear and friends (pg. 8)

It sold for $1350.00

 "Polar Bear Family"    
This exquisite specimen of a fossil walrus tusk artifact has a polar bear family engraved and painted on it. On the photographs I used to work from it was not clear if the more distant bear was a male or a female (the one on the foreground definitely is a Mom) so I leave that up to the imagination of the viewer. The cub in between the two large ones is older than the cubs in the foreground. I used the natural markings in the fossil ivory to define the landscape they are set in which is visible on one of the close ups. The fossil walrus ivory is up to 5,000 yrs old and found on the Saint Lawrence Island

off Nome, Alaska where it was dug up by the Yupik Eskimos.

Fossil ivory is quite heavy and this piece weights more than 2 pounds.

The dimensions for the piece itself are: 8.5 by 3 by 1 (thickness) inches

and for the stand are: 9.5 by 3 by 1 (height) inches.

Again, this piece of tusk was used as a net sinker and is loosely placed on a beautiful handmade stand of Bolivian rosewood with a mounted strip of multicolor pieces of fossil walrus ivory. These artifact pieces are increasingly difficult to locate and have been going up in value rapidly.

This piece has triple value, as an art piece, an ancient utilitarian object and as a fossil.  

The price is $3100.00 and is still available

This uniquely beautiful and rare fossilized walrus tusk of up to 5000 yrs old is mounted (loose)
on a beautiful rosewood stand that is inlayed with 3 pieces of fossil mammoth ivory.
The hole at the end of the tusk indicates that at one time it was used as a weight for fishing nets.
The back of the piece has a shallow carved indentation in it telling us it was used

as a fire starter as well.

This piece holds triple value: as an art piece, as an ancient utilitarian object and as a fossil.

Dimensions for the total piece with the stand measures:
Length 11-3/4" x Width 2-1/16" x Height 3"

The tusk by itself measures:
Length 11" x Thickness 1-1/8" x Height 2"

This piece was sold for $2,550.00

Note:  The series of photos illustrates the stages of the work in progress.