Engraved Whale's Tooth Commemorating Patriot Joseph Warren

Description:

Engraved Whale's Tooth Commemorating Patriot Joseph Warren, America, mid-19th century, the obverse with engraving depicting the Bunker Hill Monument flanked by a portrait bust of Joseph Warren below a banner inscribed "WARREN," the reverse with a stylized American flag and a small seated figure above a fruiting vine lattice over a female allegorical figure wearing a crown of laurel leaves, her right hand atop a globe surmounting an American shield, the images heightened with red pigment, ht. 6 1/8, wd. 2 3/8 in.

Note: From Warren family biography: "Joseph Warren had graduated from the Harvard Medical College and became a leading doctor and surgeon, and was a foremost leader in the cause of liberty. He was Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence that kept the Colonies informed of the progress of the Independent movement. He was an officer in the Colonial Militia, and at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War was in official command of the forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was killed early in the action, being the first officer to lose his life in that war." A large granite obelisk and a bronze statue of Warren commemorating the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first major battle in the Revolutionary War, are located at Breed's Hill, Charlestown, Massachusetts.
Estimate $6,000-8,000

Keywords