I'm a scrimshaw collector as well. Can you tell me what the size of the overall piece is? Looks like it might have a small hole drilled through the end, any idea what that might be for?
Tim
I did a little research and found out that U-995 was a Type VIIC U-boat manufactured by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg. It was laid down on November 25, 1942 and commissioned on September 16, 1943. It was captained by Kptlt. Walter Kohntopp (from September 16, 1943 to October 9, 1944) and Oblt. Hans-Georg Hess (a RK holder) (from October 10, 1944 to May 8, 1945). In its career, it was involved in 9 patrols and sunk 5 ships for a total of 9,062 tons. It surrendered to British forces at Trondheim on May 8, 1945 and was given to Norweigan authorities in 1948. It served under the Norweigan flag from 1952 to 1965. It was then returned to Germany where she became a museum in 1971.
This information was obtained from an excellent website entitled "Uboat.Net - The U-boat War 1939-1945". I encourage you guys to check it out, it is outstanding. It even includes great pictures of U-995 and others. Here is the site:
That's great! The size is much larger than I originally thought this might be and compares to one of my larger sperm whale's teeth that I have. That's a keeper and as ivory holds it's value pretty good and the added provenance for this particular piece, it should bring a pretty penny should you ever decide to sell it.
Nice to see something different for a change--thank you.
Tim
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