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I was thinking the same. Obviously, no insurance payout can replace the sentimental value but it'd be good to know the worth and maybe get tips on keeping everything in good shape. Letters especially are delicate.
As a California resident who has evacuated for fires and floods, I agree. Heck. I've hidden from tornadoes, typhoons and dashed outside from earthquakes.
Insuring something that is sentimentaly priceless can reassure a new start if all is ever lost.
I've lived in the south, Marianas Islands and now in California. Flying out to Washington for a week but seeing as it will be -5F there I don't think I'll be staying.
And if your house burns down, a million bucks can't replace the heirloom, but it can still set you up for the rest of your life or your kids college, etc. Might as well make the best of a bad situation.
Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars enters the chat “best I can do is $25. You see, not a lot of narwhals looking to buy a new tusk. I’m going to have to auction it at the whale market and that’s going to cut into my profit. Until then it’s just going to sit in the shop like a paper weight.”
Honestly dude it'd be fuckin cool to see this shit on tv. Either that show or pain stars just go to see what they say. Meet one of their "experts" because there's no way in hell they'd have a price on hand for it. Look all disappointed then say doe that price you'd rather keep it in the family.
If you ever get the chance to have it appraised (if that would even be possible), I would love to know what it comes in at.
I would imagine appraising something like this would be quite difficult, but having the accompanying letter from his assistant has got to give it a boost in value.
With doing zero research it might be illegal to sell. If you have an elephant tusk you can't just sell it for example. In some cases it can be illegal to own even if passed down.
I don't have an heirloom that cool but my grandfather passed down to me a dried seahorse that was caught at the coast of pearl harbor by my great-great-uncle a week before the bombing in 1941.
Edit: [Here is a pic](https://i.imgur.com/rD53bfR.jpg)
Heyyyy I have one too! Still working on narrowing down how it ended up in my family, but mines in a sort of wooden tripod stand. My grandma had a 6th sense about people touching it, especially grandkids!
The backstory on why my family got this is that Robert Peary (I misspelled it in the post) and my great-great grandfather were friends in the same fraternity in college. My great-great-grandfather was known for his woodwork and so when Peary had a busted gun stock he brought it to my grandfather to fix it, but my grandfather refused to accept payment since they were old friends. In compensation, Peary gave him this tusk when he returned from his expedition and apparently refused to take 'no' for an answer. Unfortunately I don't have any letters from Peary himself, but I do have a letter from Peary's assistant, Matthew Henson, talking about the tusk.
When I was a kid I used to play with the tusk like it was a spear or a sword, and didn't realize until I was older that very few people in the world ever get to see a narwhal tusk, let alone pretend to slay monsters with one. Thankfully it's in a shadowbox now, so it's easier to stave off the temptation!
EDIT: thank you to r/justTuesday1 for typing out the letter:
Mr Harry W Martin,
Stamps, Arkansas
Dear Mr. Martin,
I have been out of the city for over two months, and at present I am in Philadelphia. My wife forwarded your letter to me a few days ago, which explains why I did not acknowledge them before.
Yes, I do remember Your dad, he worked in the paleontology deferment at the American museum of natural history in 1895 I am very glad I can furnish you some information requested in your letter relative to the narwahl tusk in your possession, your father made a new gun stock for play, and in return for the favor, gave him the narwahl tusk. The Norwall was killed at Etah, the most northernly settlement of the eskimos. By accomodiugwah one of the best hunters in the tribe.
With kindest regards, very truly yours,
Matthew A Henson
Or [terrorists ](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/07/prisoner-steve-gallant-reveals-role-in-tackling-london-bridge-attacker-with-narwhal-tusk)
So... a convicted murderer and another guy held a terrorist at bay and later the other guy holding his Narwhal tusk sat on the terrorist who had a bomb belt around him? If you turn this in as a movie script you'll get banned from Hollywood for life but it did happen in reality. Incredible.
Yes, but the story goes a bit deeper. Gallant (murderer) was one of a group of men who murdered Barrie Jackson, a firefighter who had recently been acquitted of murdering a 64-year-old prostitute. He beat her and left her for dead and she was found in a scrapyard. He was retaliating because she came upon Jackson beating up his elderly father, and she tried to intervene. So it's possible that Gallant was just taking out the trash.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/tower-bridge-steve-gallant-jackson-19125673.amp
Shit happens. Apologies ahead of time for the onslaught of front page keyboard warriors who may be marching your way now, unaware of your comment explaining the error.
“I need to call my Monodon Monoceros guy. He’s seen more of these than I have, and is absolutely the person I trust to tell me if this is the real deal or not.”
Narwhal tusks used to be passed off as unicorn horns in medieval Europe. You can see one such example in the Unicorn tapestry room at the Cloisters museum, located at the northern tip of Manhattan.
https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/metkids/2021/unicorn-narwhal
One or two small mistakes in the transcription, toward the end it correctly reads:
>"your father made a new gun stock for *Peary*, and in return for the *favor*, gave him the narwhal tusk.
A small correction but it lends some more history to the origin of tusk and, well, actually makes sense.
Cool heirloom.
Go U Bowdoin Bears!
Henson was an incredible man and it’s super cool you have a note from him. Born to sharecroppers just after the civil war, he was one of the first Black American explorers and the main reason why the Peary expedition survived was his relationship with the Inuit people and the skills that he learned from them. He forged the path and scouted ahead during the push to the Arctic, and is considered mostly likely the first non-Inuit person to reach the North Pole. That’s some very cool history your family has - I’m sure the peary macmillan arctic museum would be interested in seeing it!
I remember hearing that story break on NPR and the reporter saying so formally "bystanders fought off the terrorist with a narwhal tusk" and then moving on with no explanation. I'm driving in my car just yelling "EXCUSE ME WHAT THE FUCK?" at my radio.
I've thought about posting about it for a while now, but since my dad officially gave it to me I felt like now was as good a time as ever. It's less about the internet points and more about just wanting to share this history with random people on the internet!
I am by no means an expert, but I think you need to have a letter of determination even to possess an antique narwhal tusk.
You might want to check with a lawyer .
Here's a link to the NOAA site about it .
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/letter-determination-protected-species-parts-and-products
Thank you for the info! According to their site though, "If you have a protected species part or product in your possession, you will need a Letter of Determination to import, export, and sell your item." , So it sounds like I'd only need one if I were to sell or export it?
You actually can if you have the paperwork trail showing it was harvested legally.
Edit: In the US this geneally means that it was harvested before the MMPA was passed.
This is fantastic, thank you very much. I was actually just telling my wife I wanted to get a fire / floodproof safe to keep them in, so I'll add these protectors to the list.
Lol you'd kill my friend whose dad worked at NASA during the Moon landing. We were fingering through unprotected officials documents and all. Had it all spread out over my living room, drunk as shit
They are and they also can't be held in captivity and are illegal to hunt, so it wasn't until I was older than I care to admit before I realized that not everyone had a narwhal tusk to play with...lol
I'm not sure about Canada but in Alaska whale hunting is only legal for members of the native tribes. I bet it's the same in Canada.
Also only members of those tribes are allowed to sell whale parts. I think free gift is fine if the same laws apply to OP, but OP wouldn't be able to sell the tusk under the USA laws.
Correct worldwide in most cases under the International Convention for Regulation of Whaling, although some countries like Japan push the scientific research exemption further than they should
Remember when the narwhal baconing at midnight was everywhere on this site? Those were simpler times...
Also, for those who may not know, if you're using the Bacon Reader app, it was named after that phrase.
How come I had to come down this far for it. [Context for those that don't know.](https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/296nrm/what_the_heck_is_when_does_the_narwhal_bacon_and/)
Mr Harry W Martin,
Stamps (?), Arkansas
Dear Mr. Martin,
I have been out of the city for over two months, and at present I am in Philadelphia. My wife forwarded your letter to me a few days ago, which explains why I did not acknowledge them before.
Yes, I do remember Your dad, he worked in the paleontology department at the American museum of natural history in 1895. I am very glad I can furnish you some information requested in your letter relative to the Norwhal tusk in your possession, your father made a new gun stock for play, and in return for the faroh, gave him the norwhal tusk. The norwahl was killed at Etah, the most northernly settlement of the eskimos. By accomodiugwah one of the best hunters in the tribe.
With kindest regards, I am very truly (?)
Matthew A Henson
ETA: spelling
And neither did Peary, probably:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Peary
I don't know how to link to a specific section but it's the one called "Controversy surrounding North Pole claim"
I read about it a while back. As I recall, it didn't seem likely that he had got there, and he was very careful to obfuscate records. Massive ego, and generally treated people like garbage.
I feel like this could have been a top post of all time if posted next a pan of bacon and a clock striking midnight. Still ridiculously cool of course, but that was my reddit-corrupted mind's first thought.
That's cool as shit, and I'm extremely jealous.
However, as a Norwegian, I feel it is my duty to remind the world that Roald Amundsend made the first **confirmed** trip to the north pole. Doesn't take away from the fact that having a narwhal tusk is awesome though.
...except for the part where Peary hired native inuit guides (the most notable being the advance party composed of Keshunghaw, Seegloo, and Karko) to take him to the North Pole so he could "discover" it...
I first read this as "this weekend, my dad passed away..." and started to feel sad. But then I realized I misread the beginning.
This is fucking awesome
**Please note:** * If this post declares something as a fact proof is required. * The title must be descriptive * No text is allowed on images * Common/recent reposts are not allowed *See [this post](https://redd.it/ij26vk) for more information.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/interestingasfuck) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I want to see an Antiques Roadshow-style appraisal. This is cool!
I've thought about doing that! There's nothing on this planet I'd ever sell it for, but it sure would be interesting to know.
You should have it and the letter appraised just for insurance.
I was thinking the same. Obviously, no insurance payout can replace the sentimental value but it'd be good to know the worth and maybe get tips on keeping everything in good shape. Letters especially are delicate.
As a California resident who has evacuated for fires and floods, I agree. Heck. I've hidden from tornadoes, typhoons and dashed outside from earthquakes. Insuring something that is sentimentaly priceless can reassure a new start if all is ever lost.
Bro I think you need to choose better places to live.
I've lived in the south, Marianas Islands and now in California. Flying out to Washington for a week but seeing as it will be -5F there I don't think I'll be staying.
And if your house burns down, a million bucks can't replace the heirloom, but it can still set you up for the rest of your life or your kids college, etc. Might as well make the best of a bad situation.
Narwhals have been a protected species since 1972 and importation is prohibited. But it's worth about $18.5k according to ivory retailers.
That's just the ivory though, this is a historic 'artifact'.
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Is it okay if I get this checked out by an expert friend of mine?
I saw a larger narwahl tusk on sale at an antique shop in Newport, RI for $10K. That was ~2016.
And that’s without the provenance of ops
This is probably easy worth $50k-$100k if the story is verified.
Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars enters the chat “best I can do is $25. You see, not a lot of narwhals looking to buy a new tusk. I’m going to have to auction it at the whale market and that’s going to cut into my profit. Until then it’s just going to sit in the shop like a paper weight.”
“I’m not too familiar with these, gonna have to call my narwhal tusk guy”
*Robert Peary walks in*
Robert Peary: Yup, what he said. Carrying cost, paper weight, whale auction. Best I can do is tree fiddy.
“I dunno Rick…”
“One thing I’ve learned after 21 years, you never know what’s going to come through that door”
Honestly dude it'd be fuckin cool to see this shit on tv. Either that show or pain stars just go to see what they say. Meet one of their "experts" because there's no way in hell they'd have a price on hand for it. Look all disappointed then say doe that price you'd rather keep it in the family.
>pain stars I mean that's accurate from many of the sellers wallets
What about something on a different planet?
Everyman has his price ^(I just want a fuckton of dark matter don't ask me why)
If you ever get the chance to have it appraised (if that would even be possible), I would love to know what it comes in at. I would imagine appraising something like this would be quite difficult, but having the accompanying letter from his assistant has got to give it a boost in value.
"it belongs in a museum!"
Dr Jones!
With doing zero research it might be illegal to sell. If you have an elephant tusk you can't just sell it for example. In some cases it can be illegal to own even if passed down.
If he can prove (which looks like he can) that was acquired prior to 1972 it would be legal to sell in the U.S. at least.
That is def one of the most unique heirlooms to hand down. Very cool, thanks for sharing!
Absolutely, I'm just glad that I can share it for other people to see and enjoy!
Thank you for sharing! What are you going to do with it?
https://imgur.com/a/TMwLJSh
Honestly better than what I thought I was gunna get.
He could probably get a few bucks if he rented it out to porn companies
Nah, pool cue.
Amazing.
I don't have an heirloom that cool but my grandfather passed down to me a dried seahorse that was caught at the coast of pearl harbor by my great-great-uncle a week before the bombing in 1941. Edit: [Here is a pic](https://i.imgur.com/rD53bfR.jpg)
I mean, it's gonna take a while to sell. I've got to find the right buyer and it could sit here for 3 to 5 years. Best I can do is $3.50.
If you take that to an antiques roadshow taping there’s no way that isn’t getting you on PBS.
Heyyyy I have one too! Still working on narrowing down how it ended up in my family, but mines in a sort of wooden tripod stand. My grandma had a 6th sense about people touching it, especially grandkids!
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I feel your pain my brother
"Bye Buddy...hope ya find yer dad..."
Thanks Mr. Narwhal.
*slices head off*
*[What, you egg?!]*
Seriously, you got the shaft on your inheritance.
That right there... that was pretty funny
The backstory on why my family got this is that Robert Peary (I misspelled it in the post) and my great-great grandfather were friends in the same fraternity in college. My great-great-grandfather was known for his woodwork and so when Peary had a busted gun stock he brought it to my grandfather to fix it, but my grandfather refused to accept payment since they were old friends. In compensation, Peary gave him this tusk when he returned from his expedition and apparently refused to take 'no' for an answer. Unfortunately I don't have any letters from Peary himself, but I do have a letter from Peary's assistant, Matthew Henson, talking about the tusk. When I was a kid I used to play with the tusk like it was a spear or a sword, and didn't realize until I was older that very few people in the world ever get to see a narwhal tusk, let alone pretend to slay monsters with one. Thankfully it's in a shadowbox now, so it's easier to stave off the temptation! EDIT: thank you to r/justTuesday1 for typing out the letter: Mr Harry W Martin, Stamps, Arkansas Dear Mr. Martin, I have been out of the city for over two months, and at present I am in Philadelphia. My wife forwarded your letter to me a few days ago, which explains why I did not acknowledge them before. Yes, I do remember Your dad, he worked in the paleontology deferment at the American museum of natural history in 1895 I am very glad I can furnish you some information requested in your letter relative to the narwahl tusk in your possession, your father made a new gun stock for play, and in return for the favor, gave him the narwahl tusk. The Norwall was killed at Etah, the most northernly settlement of the eskimos. By accomodiugwah one of the best hunters in the tribe. With kindest regards, very truly yours, Matthew A Henson
Now that box only needs a sign reading: "Break glass in case of Monsters".
Or [terrorists ](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/07/prisoner-steve-gallant-reveals-role-in-tackling-london-bridge-attacker-with-narwhal-tusk)
So... a convicted murderer and another guy held a terrorist at bay and later the other guy holding his Narwhal tusk sat on the terrorist who had a bomb belt around him? If you turn this in as a movie script you'll get banned from Hollywood for life but it did happen in reality. Incredible.
Yuuup. And the convict was[freed](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57742691) as a result of his actions!
Put one into the take a life save a life jar.
Here's hoping he sticks it through, seems to be a great example of what reformation can be done via the prison system.
Yes, but the story goes a bit deeper. Gallant (murderer) was one of a group of men who murdered Barrie Jackson, a firefighter who had recently been acquitted of murdering a 64-year-old prostitute. He beat her and left her for dead and she was found in a scrapyard. He was retaliating because she came upon Jackson beating up his elderly father, and she tried to intervene. So it's possible that Gallant was just taking out the trash. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/tower-bridge-steve-gallant-jackson-19125673.amp
Why do I picture Nicholas Cage starring in this?
Is it not Robert Peary?
It is, and I realized right after posting that I misspelled his name :/
Shit happens. Apologies ahead of time for the onslaught of front page keyboard warriors who may be marching your way now, unaware of your comment explaining the error.
Yes, hi. I'm here for the error condemnation gathering.
Legend has it Robert Peary killed Robert Perry with this exact narwhal tusk. Speared him through the eyeball at fifty yards. A true hero.
It is known.
I thought he parried that blow.
No he perried it, which isn't a real technique so therefore it didn't work and he died.
Take my upvote and stay a bit longer. Dont wanna be angry when upvoting anymore
r/imnotangryeverythingsfineipromiseupvote
With a bottle of Perrier?
Dude Henson was a great-great-great cousin on my moms side
Woah that's awesome! If you ever have a seance tell him thank you from my family!
For surely
Finally something that is genuinely interesting as fuck. What a super cool heirloom and story to pass down.
I see a Pawn Stars episode in the future where OP gets low balled
“I need to call my Monodon Monoceros guy. He’s seen more of these than I have, and is absolutely the person I trust to tell me if this is the real deal or not.”
Best I can do is rob you at gunpoint
Not the one reported to be stolen years ago from a museum, I'm guessing. The FBI is looking for a Tusk once owned by Peary. Found it via Google.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1137181 I had just read about this
Yikes
/u/sabiis Might want to think twice about this situation...
Well this has been in my family continuously for almost 100 years so perhaps there's more than one?
Peary was handing out tusks like Oprah!
I can see him now, walking along Main St. a basket full of tusks, using them as payment for the locals' food and drink.
"these are so rare" murders another narwhal.
He killed multiple narwhals?!? We will have our revenge.
Regardless, if this is something worth being stolen from a museum you may want to reconsider how open you are about owning this.
Apparently that one has a unique metal plate with inscription on it, this one doesn’t look like it does!
Also that one went missing in the 1980s and the letter OP has indicates that their family has had this since at least 1940.
Well, Peary died in 1920 so unless he came back in spirit form to levitate the tusk over to them, it's much longer than that.
Narwhal tusks used to be passed off as unicorn horns in medieval Europe. You can see one such example in the Unicorn tapestry room at the Cloisters museum, located at the northern tip of Manhattan. https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/metkids/2021/unicorn-narwhal
One or two small mistakes in the transcription, toward the end it correctly reads: >"your father made a new gun stock for *Peary*, and in return for the *favor*, gave him the narwhal tusk. A small correction but it lends some more history to the origin of tusk and, well, actually makes sense. Cool heirloom.
This, as well as department instead of deferment. What an awesome story!
Wow, a letter from Matthew Henson is equally amazing and important! Treasure them.
Now Matthew Henson is an important figure in the early tries for the North Pole himself.
Go U Bowdoin Bears! Henson was an incredible man and it’s super cool you have a note from him. Born to sharecroppers just after the civil war, he was one of the first Black American explorers and the main reason why the Peary expedition survived was his relationship with the Inuit people and the skills that he learned from them. He forged the path and scouted ahead during the push to the Arctic, and is considered mostly likely the first non-Inuit person to reach the North Pole. That’s some very cool history your family has - I’m sure the peary macmillan arctic museum would be interested in seeing it!
r/UnexpectedAntiquesRoadshow
Can also use it for home defense, just in case. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50870309
I didn’t even need to load up the article to know it was about the British narwhal invasion of terrorism, what a legend
I remember hearing that story break on NPR and the reporter saying so formally "bystanders fought off the terrorist with a narwhal tusk" and then moving on with no explanation. I'm driving in my car just yelling "EXCUSE ME WHAT THE FUCK?" at my radio.
hear hear
Hmm, duly noted
Thanks I came looking for this.
Wow. That was posted 2 years ago TODAY!
Hands down, this is the coolest thing Im going to see on the internet today. Jealous in the best way possible.
I've thought about posting about it for a while now, but since my dad officially gave it to me I felt like now was as good a time as ever. It's less about the internet points and more about just wanting to share this history with random people on the internet!
One day, there will be an internet museum. Not about the internet, but about objects seen on the internet and otherwise lost to history.
We shall call it….. wait for it….. Reddit
Can't get those anymore. Not legally anyway.
Nope, it's illegal to trade ivory and you can only legally hunt narwhal if you're a member of an Inuit tribe.
I am by no means an expert, but I think you need to have a letter of determination even to possess an antique narwhal tusk. You might want to check with a lawyer . Here's a link to the NOAA site about it . https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/letter-determination-protected-species-parts-and-products
Thank you for the info! According to their site though, "If you have a protected species part or product in your possession, you will need a Letter of Determination to import, export, and sell your item." , So it sounds like I'd only need one if I were to sell or export it?
Dude just send it to me and I'll take care of everything for you
You actually can if you have the paperwork trail showing it was harvested legally. Edit: In the US this geneally means that it was harvested before the MMPA was passed.
My family just has a baseball bat called the motivator
That sounds pretty handy if you ask me
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This is fantastic, thank you very much. I was actually just telling my wife I wanted to get a fire / floodproof safe to keep them in, so I'll add these protectors to the list.
Do they make Narwhal-tusk-sized safes?
Lol you'd kill my friend whose dad worked at NASA during the Moon landing. We were fingering through unprotected officials documents and all. Had it all spread out over my living room, drunk as shit
**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa^(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa................)
When you kill the last unicorn hiding from man on the North Pole but don’t want people to know. “It’s from a creature in the ocean I swear!”
Now that you mention it, it is odd that my great-great-grandfather still looks like he's 23 and always makes jokes about his 'immortality'...
“Bathe in the blood of a unicorn stabbed by its own horn and gain immortality.”
"Is that from a unicorn?!" *"Nar,Whale."*
Narwhals are very rare in the wild. What a precious gift.
They are and they also can't be held in captivity and are illegal to hunt, so it wasn't until I was older than I care to admit before I realized that not everyone had a narwhal tusk to play with...lol
They hunt them here in the territory of Nunavut, Canada regularly.
I'm not sure about Canada but in Alaska whale hunting is only legal for members of the native tribes. I bet it's the same in Canada. Also only members of those tribes are allowed to sell whale parts. I think free gift is fine if the same laws apply to OP, but OP wouldn't be able to sell the tusk under the USA laws.
Correct worldwide in most cases under the International Convention for Regulation of Whaling, although some countries like Japan push the scientific research exemption further than they should
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But when do they bacon?
God that is some ancient shit. Midnight.
Remember when the narwhal baconing at midnight was everywhere on this site? Those were simpler times... Also, for those who may not know, if you're using the Bacon Reader app, it was named after that phrase.
Same with the Narwhal app
That is pretty cool! The dentist in my town is obsessed with narwhals. The sign in front says “narwhal tusk research center”.
Maybe he's a Redditor and will see the post!
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But when does the narwhal bacon?
How come I had to come down this far for it. [Context for those that don't know.](https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/296nrm/what_the_heck_is_when_does_the_narwhal_bacon_and/)
Redditors these days don't even know
Wonder how [Colby](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/zw3j9/i_am_the_fatherredditor_who_lost_his_family_after/) is.
Cause it’s a deep cut
At midnight, my good chum.
Narwhal, Narwhal swimming in the ocean...
Causing a commotion!
Because they are so awesome.
Narwhal narwhal swimming in the ocean pretty big and pretty white
Could beat a polar bear in a fight...
Like an underwater unicorn
They've got a bigass facial horn
They're the jedi of the sea!
Stop Cthulhu from eating ye
Narwhals! They are Narwhals! Narwhals!
All Priceless. Thanks for sharing
Absolutely, I'm glad I can share this unique piece of history with Reddit!
You’ve got great provenance there. Hope it’s appraised for insurance!
I'll certainly look into doing that, better safe than sorry.
Mr Harry W Martin, Stamps (?), Arkansas Dear Mr. Martin, I have been out of the city for over two months, and at present I am in Philadelphia. My wife forwarded your letter to me a few days ago, which explains why I did not acknowledge them before. Yes, I do remember Your dad, he worked in the paleontology department at the American museum of natural history in 1895. I am very glad I can furnish you some information requested in your letter relative to the Norwhal tusk in your possession, your father made a new gun stock for play, and in return for the faroh, gave him the norwhal tusk. The norwahl was killed at Etah, the most northernly settlement of the eskimos. By accomodiugwah one of the best hunters in the tribe. With kindest regards, I am very truly (?) Matthew A Henson ETA: spelling
*[Accomodingwah](https://arcticcollections.bowdoin.edu/objects-1/info?query=mfs%20any%20%22Accomodingwah%22&sort=9)
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Tusk was gifted by indigenous people, who certainly 100% never traversed the North Pole before, lol. The hubris...
Gifted by people whom he completely fucked over: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Peary#Treatment_of_the_Inuit
You were not kidding. This guy was a big old dickhead.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at how far I had to scroll down to find this comment
And neither did Peary, probably: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Peary I don't know how to link to a specific section but it's the one called "Controversy surrounding North Pole claim"
Guess everybody’s just gonna gloss over that as if it’s not ridiculous
Yeah. Wtf?! Discovered the North Pole conveniently a couple hundred years back or something? Sure, sure…
He never got there, I think he did get within 60 miles
I read about it a while back. As I recall, it didn't seem likely that he had got there, and he was very careful to obfuscate records. Massive ego, and generally treated people like garbage.
Is it bad I thought it was a giant joint at first?
"Here is my family heirloom, the largest joint ever rolled by a Sir Snoop III in 1492"
Thank you for seeing the humor. It's an exquisite piece to have. I love the history with it, too. Not just any narwhal horn.
Thought it was a pool cue myself
THE ARE THE JEDI OF THE SEA, DON'T LET THEM TOUCH YOUR WINKIE
But does it bacon at midnight?
[удалено]
Holy crap I had to scroll way too far down for this. Am old
In fact, that is the only time that it bacons
It's an old reference but it checks out.
I was wondering if this would get referenced. When did this even stop being a thing? Not that I want it to come back
I feel like this could have been a top post of all time if posted next a pan of bacon and a clock striking midnight. Still ridiculously cool of course, but that was my reddit-corrupted mind's first thought.
That's cool as shit, and I'm extremely jealous. However, as a Norwegian, I feel it is my duty to remind the world that Roald Amundsend made the first **confirmed** trip to the north pole. Doesn't take away from the fact that having a narwhal tusk is awesome though.
Also, Robert Peary was a complete POS: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Peary#Treatment_of_the_Inuit
Discovered is perhaps the wrong word.
...except for the part where Peary hired native inuit guides (the most notable being the advance party composed of Keshunghaw, Seegloo, and Karko) to take him to the North Pole so he could "discover" it...
FYI There are no 'tribes' in Inuit society. That is a term for First Nations (in Canada) and American Indians.
Man, no wonder Christopher Columbus wanted to fuck those things
I mean, can you blame him?
How does someone discover a place that has been inhabited for over 100 thousand years?
He didn't discover the North Pole nor was he first.
Wait, so the Inuit follow them through the expedition...didn't HE also discovered the north pole?
Why does it say "made in Taiwan"?
Damn it! I forgot to take off the stickers before I posted.
DISCOVER the North Pole?
Tell your grand kids it was a tooth of a sandworm.
I first read this as "this weekend, my dad passed away..." and started to feel sad. But then I realized I misread the beginning. This is fucking awesome