Rare And Valuable Scrimscraw From Darwin Expedition Found In British Wardrobe

Get me to antiques roadshow. Stat!

The newly discovered piece tells the story of an encounter with Indians in Tierra Del Fuego. A similar piece by the same scrimshander – Pte James Bute of the HMS Beagle – sold at auction for over 40,000 pounds as recently as last month. Only five other examples of Bute’s work, which chronicled one of history’s most important and momentous discovery expeditions, are known to exist.

Along with the scrimshaw, several letters from the original owner to Darwin himself were discovered.