Posted 8 years ago
Stillwater
(207 items)
This is one of the strangest pieces in my family's estate. It came from the Donald Hiser collection, which my mother acquired the whole of. Donald Hiser was the director of the Pueblo Grande Museum and was an archeologist for over 60 years. He acquired things all throughout his life, GOOD things too, and his estate was an absolute goldmine... Some of my mother's best items came from that estate.
But this thing I have absolutely no idea what it is. It is a real human skull that seems to be either charred or blackened in some way. It is attached to a little base with the bust of a woman. I'm almost afraid it may be haunted somehow. It looks like some sort of Satanic artifact. Does anyone have ANY idea what this thing is?
LoL creepy cool tho
Have no idea Stillwater but dying to hear some feed-back! Well, it's not Amer. Indian.
Is it water tight? Maybe a drinking vessel for a people into the occult. For blood sacrifice. Or it could be a special religious persons skull and a worship item.
Or a trophy from a battle or war. This is probably most likely. The skull maybe blackened as they burnt the body to get the flesh off and clean bones.
A trophy from a battle? I don't know if that would explain the mounting though...
I found something online about the Brits making goblets from human skulls a long time ago. The mounting does kind of look Europran, I'll have to look into that more
Could the blacking be oxidized silver? (ie was the skull silver plated? )
It does look like a trophy to me . The Victorians thought nothing of using human and animal parts to make things . Elephant feet umbrella stands tiger claw jewelry and human scrotums for tobacco pouches and coin purses
It does not appear to have been plated with silver in the traditional manner, I'm not quite sure how it was blackened to be honest
This is stunning!!!! Gorgeous shape and that color!!! If it's haunted oh what fun. >;) your a lucky lady to have such, wish it were mine..
Lol, how ironic, a headhuntress likes my skull.
(I'm a guy actually, haha. I'm young and on the thin side so I guess my hands look feminine LOL!)
I like most skulls, especially yours, wish it were for the taking. Lol!
Ugg! Please forgive me for assuming such.
Lol its okay
Actually, yes. Without examining it closer, it appears to be a ritual chalice used in an initiation ceremony. The initiate imbibes from it during the ceremony to join the brotherhood.
These may range from common skulls to those with gold and even silver stems, much like this one here. The stem appears to have the head of a Hellenistic statue, though tarnished, and may suggest it's age or the views of the specific group who used it in their rituals.
Normally, these remain in the brotherhood on the death of the holder and are passed down within the group. I guess it would be possible that this previous owner was the last of his group and had no one to pass it on to. While not rare outside the order, it is to be in the hands of one who does not know what it is or it's value.
Haunted? Possibly. It is, after all, a human skull. On occasion, the spirit of the person has remained attached to it's body parts and may seek to protect it or seek vengeance if it is ever desecrated. I guess, since it belonged to a religious order, one could consider it sacred, at least to the group.
If you are in possession of this item, it is highly possible that there are other items that would be involved with the same group, possibly even the same ceremony.
Do handle carefully. It is clearly quite old, at least from the 1800's, and was once the cradle of knowledge of a living man. At the very least, Memento Mori.
vikings used to drink from human skulls still nowadays they use the word skol in Norway to say cheers before drinking...a bit macaber but interesting object
very cool artifact thank you for sharing