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Scrimshaw was a folk art popular with sailors who had lots of time to kill on long voyages, few tools, little space to store things, and low budgets.  Unfortunately, over time, the materials they used such as ivory, are harvested from animals on the endangered species list and strictly regulated. 

From an Ebay listing for an ivory scrimshaw item I learn there are US Fish and Wildlife regulations, Ebay rules, and CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) regulations.  This seller was making it clear the item was made from "75 y ear old pre-ban elephant ivory". I'm thinking it must be very difficult to prove that.  Suppliers that can prove provenence in court have to be hard to find and expensive.

It makes me wonder how we would sell some ivory scrimshaw items we purchased on a trip to Alaka in 1978.  The receipts are long gone and we never had (or needed) any of the certifications. 

In addition to the supply issue are condition disclaimers.  "...was stabilized to resist age and humidity and fill any minor age cracks.)  I don't know enough about these processes to say how to tell salvaged junk from stabalized quality.  Buyer beware I guess.

All these regulations create materials shortages and artists doing this kind of work have branched out to other materials with similiar characteristics.  Thus, we see auctions for scrimshaw on tortise shell, whale teeth, Yak bone, Mammoth ivory, and others.

With all that in mind, the list below shows current auctions for scrimshaw.  If you click on one of the links you will go directly to that auctions.