Tribute of an Unorthodox Friendship

Intricate scrimshaw work on a pair of bullock horns in the Puke Ariki Heritage Collection hint at a friendship between a worn out jailer and an inmate at New Plymouth's prison. The pair of bullock horns, which have been converted into powder flasks and painstakingly decorated with a variety of scenes, were given to retired soldier James Riley in the 1870s when he was working at the newly opened prison.

Riley was discharged from the 65th Regiment in 1866 with an army record which stated he was "quite worn out" and "sick". He eventually settled in Fillis Street and, according to family history, he found work at the prison. It was during this time he received these horns from a prisoner. Whoever crafted them obviously had plenty of time as they are heavily decorated with ballroom scenes and other pictures apparently from classical myths.

Scrimshaw is a time consuming art which involves smoothing the surface to be decorated before cutting it with a sharp tool. Illustrations from books can be traced by pricking the outline of the picture with a pin and then joining up the dots. After the patterns are finished they are rubbed over with something like soot or ink to mark them and polished to remove excess colour.