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A beautiful prehistoric harpoon socket carved from ivory with delicate engraving | Donald Ellis Gallery

Harpoon Socket Piece

Old Bering Sea III
St. Lawrence Island, Alaska

300 – 500 CE

marine mammal ivory 

height: 5"

Inventory # E4120-44

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Provenance

Reportedly collected at the old village site at Gambell, AK
Peggy Au Schatz, Detroit, MI
Christie’s New York, NY, December 4, 1996, lot 200
Bill and Carol Wolf, NJ

Exhibited

On long-term loan, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI; 1984–1995

Related Examples

​The State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow, cat. nos. 121Dp-IV, 126Dp-IV, 144Dp-IV, 117Dp-IV, 328Dp-IV, and 402Dp-IV – See: Leskov, A.M. and Muller-Beck, H. Arktische Waljager vor 3000 Jahren: Unbekannte Sibirische Kunst. Munich: v. Hase & Koehler Verlag, 1993, pg. 109, pls. 58 and 59, pg. 111, pls. 62 and 64, and pg. 112, pls. 65 and 68

The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, cat. no. 1983.8 See:  Wardwell, Allen. Ancient Eskimo Ivories of the Bering Strait. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1986, pg. 71, pl.73