This scrimshaw whale’s tooth sold for a record $456,000

This Edward Burdett scrimshaw was auctioned off for a record-breaking $456,000.

A scrimshaw whale’s tooth sold for a record-breaking $456,000 at a Cape Cod auction last week.

The prized 8-inch tooth piece depicts a 19th-century whale ship, the William Tell, flying an American flag. It was created by Edward Burdett, a whaler and widely acclaimed artist from Nantucket, while he was onboard the ship between 1830 and 1833.

Burdett was killed in 1833 after becoming entangled in a line and dragged overboard by a whale when he was just 28 years old.

The quality of the workmanship, the size of the tooth, its varied colors, its inscription, and the fact that it has not been on the market contributed to its desirability, said Cheryl Stewart, head of marketing at Eldred’s auction house in East Dennis, where the tooth was sold.

The record for the most expensive scrimshaw sold at auction was previously held by a piece from the “Pagoda/Albatross” artist, according to Antiques Trade Gazette. That scrimshaw, also a whale’s tooth, sold for $324,000 in 2012.

“Whale teeth featuring whaling scenes seem to be particularly desirable,” Bill Bourne, head of Eldred’s marine art department, told the Gazette.