Christian from Germany sent me a picture of a vintage knife with scrimshaw that is for sale on their version of “Craigslist” called “Kleinanzeigen.de”. Well worn, probably used daily, the scrimshaw is still quite visible, as is the artist’s mark. Thanks to Jim Stevens’ page “Scrimshaw Artist Marks and Signatures“, I think I found the artist.
The mark resembles Doug Fine’s, and the scrimshaw may be one of his earlier ones by the looks of the knife and the work. Doug’s work can still be found today at the Whaler’s Locker.
Digging through the wayback machine, I was able to find that Doug was an artist at the site LahianaScrimshawMaui.com, no longer on the web. It seems Doug’s son Derek is still active, though at https://www.mauihands.com/project/derek-fine/ . I’m attempting to contact him to verify if this was his or his father’s work.
Maui Hands responded quickly:
“Aloha Andrew,
Thank you for your message and inquiry. Happy to help!
Here’s what Derek had to say:
‘Wow, I haven’t seen that work for awhile,
That’s my Father, Doug Fine, we have the same initials,
That’s why I put DD Fine on my work.’
Mahalo,
Catherine”