Datolite nodule (Scrimshaw)

Unknown Owner

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A piece of old-style scrimshaw art, carved into a very fine and very large nodule of datolite from the copper deposits of Upper Michigan. Making artworks out of copper and datolite was a side hobby for some local miners and collectors. Sean Finneson Copper collection as exhibited in Tucson 2022 (he purchased it from Ross Lillie's midwest collection; and oddly enough Ross got it himself from the Belgian-based collector Wouter Van Tichelen, so this seems to go back in time a bit...). Published in Mineral Collections in the Pacific Northwest (Mineralogical Record, Sept. 2019 - Scovil photo at end of our own photos). Artist: Jim Billings of Michigan, a specialist in this art form (the piece comes with an old article from a local magazine on this sport/art, featuring a photo and information about Billings).