Objects Made of Baleen (Whalebone)

Some of the rarest and therefore most desirable eyeglass frames are made of whalebone. Baleen, as it is also referred to, is a tough, springy, horny, keratin-like material which forms fringed plates that hang from the palate (upper jaw) of the baleen whale. Baleen grows throughout the whale's life and there can be as many as 400 plates per whale. These hairy plates are sieve-like, used to strain and filter plankton, krill, and other small organisms from the water. The collected food is then wiped off by the tongue for swallowing. Baleen whales (whalebone whales, Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata -vertebrates, Class: Mammalia - mammals, Order: Cetacea, Suborder: Mysticeti) can, in this manner, be distinguished from other whales which instead have regular teeth.

These "great whales" are among the largest animals on earth. Baleen whales have two blow holes, the females are even larger than the males, and many are endangered because of over-hunting. From the 11th to the late 20th centuries they were commonly hunted in the North Sea from Britain to Greenland. Whalebone was also the most important product of San Francisco’s Artic whale fishery. By the very early nineteenth century perhaps as many as 15,000 whales were being captured yearly worldwide and then slaughtered for their bone, their baleen and their oil.

Many of the baleen eyeglass frames seen in advanced collections probably date from the late 17th to the very early 19th century. As expected nose spectacles were the earlier examples and temples spectacles were generally then made during the second half of the 18th century. The material is durable and light weight and therefore an excellent substance for the construction of the eyeglass frame. Whalebone is easy to carve and shape since it has a pliable almost plastic-like property. As such it was also used in various manufacturing industries as a forerunner of plastic, for example to strengthen parasol ribs. It provided the support braces in corsets, and was also used in buggy whips.

Horn and baleen are occasionally difficult to distinguish from one another, but in fact they are really quite different. Horn comes from a cow while baleen is from a whale. Horn is found in many colors from near white to black, while baleen is typically dark grey or nearly black (some light plates have now been seen at the San Francisco Maritime Museum). Baleen is sometimes seen as cream or even white. The greatest difference between the two materials is their structure. With the use of a powerful magnifier or a microscope one can see that horn looks like very thin sheets one upon another. On the contrary baleen looks like very thin threads pressed together. If your warm horn it produces a strong smell and it is impossible to bend a piece of horn into the form of baleen spectacles. Finally it is impossible to use baleen to make a Martin’s Margin insert ring, which usually is horn.

Even the most advanced collections may have only one example of an optical object made from baleen. A large group (six nose spectacles) exists at the Luxottica Museum in Agordo, Italy. They are truly wonderful to behold in person, unfortunately however a photo has not yet been made available for the public to view. Enjoy all the other images in the slideshow that follows.