Very Large Heavy Antique Alaska Whale Vertebrae Fossil Bone Chiropractor mancave For Sale

This item is a very large and heavy antique whale vertebra \"fossil\", sourced from the Cook Inlet in Alaska.It weighs approximately 15 pounds, is 25 inches wide x 18 inches high and 12 inches deep.
This unique piece could make a striking addition to a chiropractor\'s office or mancave, adding a touch of history and character to the space. The whale vertebra serves as a reminder of the natural beauty and vastness of the ocean, making it a conversation starter and a fascinating collectible item for any enthusiast of unique artifacts.
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Although the word fossil is shown here, that is only for the purpose of indicating that this vertebrae is old. In fact, it was dug out of a whale carcass by the seller while employed as a bush pilot in Alaska in the mid 1970\'s
_I originally spotted the dead carcass laying at the north end of Silver Salmon beach on the west side of the Cook Inlet. I was often carrying fisherman in my Cessna 185F aircraft. Silver Salmon Creek drains a large area of Glacier flowage into which several runs of large Silver (Coho) Salmon migrate each spring to complete their spawning runs. This area is popular for bears, fishermen, photographers and hunters.
The Grizzly Bears had been chewing on what I believe was a Humpback Whale carcass. The weather had not yet decomposed the whale to the point where I could get to it.I watched the area each time that I flew over. Within two years the whale had been almost totally devoured by the bears and other animals, and I was able to investigate it more closely. We had recently removed the Pekay floats from the Cessna as It was late in the season. My aircraft was again on Tundra tires which allowed landing on the soft sand. The area smelled very strong, to the point of gagging, and it was a challenge to attempt the recovery of souvenirs.I had brought along an 8 foot steel pry bar. After a couple of hours of prying, digging and watching for bears, I was able to remove this vertebrae. The smell was far too nasty to even consider bringing it indoors, so I placed the vertebrae on the roof of the Kenai Air Alaska hangar.In 1977 I was sent to work at Lonely, an oil exploration camp on the Arctic coast and forgot about that vertebrae. I remembered the vertebrae several years later and fetched it from the aircraft hangar roof. The weather had reduced it to just clean white hard bone with no apparent smell. I carried it with me when I moved to the lower 48 for an airline job back in the early nineteen eighties.
_I earned a ton of money flying the Boeing 747-200, built a big house in Chandler, Arizona and kept the vertebrae in my \"mancave\".I\'m 84 now, and we have retired and moved to Florida. Like most others, we downsized to a much smaller house and I am now trying to thin out the huge pile of boxes that are costing me money in storage.I attest that every bit of this information is factual, and I am aware of no regulation with regards to possession of antique whale bone.Thanks for your time, Captain R. A. \"Dick\" Wilson (America West Airlines), retired.