Whalebone Ruler
Whalebone Ruler
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Usage conditions apply
- Description
- “Straight edges” or rulers were used aboard ships as writing guides on the unlined pages of letters, journals and logbooks. The back side of this long stick is marked in 2-1/4, 4-1/2 and 9-inch sections, indicating another usage, probably by the ship’s cooper to measure the level of liquid (water, wine, beer or whale oil) in his wooden casks.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- scrimshaw
- scrimshaw yardstick
- date made
- 1800s
- collected
- 1960-07-26
- Physical Description
- ivory (overall material)
- bone (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 34 1/4 in; 86.995 cm
- ID Number
- DL.61.0049
- catalog number
- 61.49
- accession number
- 231930
- catalog number
- 61.0049
- Credit Line
- Gift of Avis and Rockwell Gardiner
- Expansion and Reform
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Maritime
- Cultures & Communities
- Work
- Industry & Manufacturing
- Natural Resources
- Transportation
- On the Water exhibit
- Art
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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