Past projects
Narwhal double tusker

 

In the last 2 decades only 2 or 3 double tuskers have been available in the world. Last Decembre 2003, a double tusker was offered in the USA, now we offer 2 double tuskers out of the NE of Canada. This is in history a remarkable moment as 2 of such skulls come available for collectors, decorators and conoisseurs.

Narwhal skull with twin tusks. One tusk is 254 cm or 8' 4" in lenght while the other one is 223 cm or 7' 4" long. Base approx. 50 cm or 20" high. Extremely rare find and in near mint condition. One of the most prestiguous natural history objects in history. Only a few skulls with double tusks are known, almost none are documented and this is probably the one with the longest tusks ever. The animal must have been between 40-50 years old. It was caught by Canadian Inuit hunters off the NE shores of Canada during the summer 2001 hunting campaign. Commission sale for Canadian client. Not available anymore.


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Inuit Eider Duck blanket
This is a fine Inuit duck blanket consisting of more than 40 hides of male and female king eider, a fine example of Greenlandic Inuit art and tradition, measuring 1.5 m x 1.0 m. The surface consists of 20 duck down covered hides sown together with cotton thread and ornamented with a rectangular frame consisting of male and female king eider duck feathers. Besides a pure decorative purpose, they often used to cover infants with it when out on a sled during the harsh winter. The process of making such blankets is very time consuming and at one time people just stopped making them as synthetic blankets became readily available. It was mostly the older women who manufactured those blankets, living in the remote settlements. At a certain time, and we estimate around 1970, the tradition stopped to be passed on from mother or grandmother to daughter. The young girls were mostly sent of to schools in the main communities of Greenland or even Denmark. There they lost track of this marvellous heritage. The decline of this small artistic home manufacturing started in the 1960’s and the art and knowledge of making such blankets most probably died out completely in the beginning of the 1980’s. There is no knowledge of them being still produced ever after that period. As this was a blanket used in everyday life under most bitter circumstances, only a few remain today and are rarely seen, certainly in this quality and size. It is certain that this was one was manufactured to be used as an actual child’s blanket because of its size, the use of duck down hides and basic decoration instead of using the complete hides and feathers of the eider duck stretched out. Only a handful are depicted in books or are known to reside in private or public collections in Canada and Denmark, most of which are small (one or two hides) and had a mere decorative purpose. The fact that this one was actually still used in the 1950’s – 1960’s (cf. cotton sewing) makes this a remarkable and rare object still in almost pristine state. Considering the use of un-tanned hides and the harsh conditions, it is a miracle such a blanket survived the test of time. Not available anymore.