Alleged Skull and Bones artifact up for auction

Christie's says it is auctioning off a 19th-century ballot box from the Yale secret society Skull and Bones. Photo by Christie's.

By Nora Caplan-Bricker

Staff Reporter

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Less than a year after an Apache family sued Skull and Bones to recover the remains of its famous ancestor, what appears to be another skull with ties to the notorious secret society is up for auction at Christie's, the Associated Press is reporting.

The skull will be auctioned off Jan. 22 for a bounty Christie's estimates will fall between $10,000 and $20,000. Although the current owner and seller has (aptly, perhaps) opted to conceal his identity — Christie's described him as a "European art collector" — the artifact was supposedly once owned by Bonesman Edward T. Owen 1872, a French and linguistics professor at the University of Wisconsin.

Not just any skeletal head, this skull is modified with a hinged flap and may once have been used as a ballot box during voting at Bones meetings, according to the listing on the Christie's Web site. The artifact also bears a mysterious etching: the word "THOR," perhaps a long-forgotten nickname.

The skull will be accompanied on the auction block by a black book containing the names and photographs of roughly 50 Bonesmen, including former President William Howard Taft 1878. The book is inscribed with Owen's name, the year 1872 and the number 322, which also appears in the society's emblem.

The bidding starts Jan. 21 in New York's Rockefeller Center.

None 2 years, 4 months ago

Photos of the items for sale (zoom in for closer inspection)

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/ZoomImage.aspx?image=/LotFinderImages/D52867/D5286778

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=5286778&sid=80c08b8b-5376-482b-86c8-549e0dc4adcb

A SKULL-AND-BONES BALLOT BOX AMERICAN, 19TH CENTURY

None 2 years, 4 months ago

Cool stuff. Artifacts of the good days. I'm sure a nostalgic alum will clean up on the 22nd.

None 2 years, 4 months ago

Those are pieces of a human being. Anyone else incredibly creeped out by that? Any speculation on to whom they belonged?

None 2 years, 4 months ago

I did not realize that auctioning human remains was legal...

Perhaps an email to the FBI is warranted.

None 2 years, 4 months ago

Everyone knows this is fake, right?

None 2 years, 4 months ago

this is absolutly disgusting and seems very disrespectful.

None 2 years, 4 months ago

see "Kill the Indian, Save the Man" November 8 post on http://theantiyale.blogspot.com

Even Hamlet had more respect for a skull than does the owner of this ghoulish jack-o-lantern ballot box,a classic irony in a voting democracy that engaged in attempted ("successful"?)genocide of certain Native American tribes.

Paul Keane http://theantiyale.blogspot.com

None 2 years, 4 months ago

Lighten up, "Civilized Human". I bet the soul of the departed is beyond the concern you voice. And Bonesmen then, obviously, took seriously death and life. And how many lives have Bonesmen saved over nearly two centuries? I bet that number is larger than the number you touted for review.

None 2 years, 4 months ago

I don't know where to start on how wrong this is. Never mind the moral and ethical issues. It is considered by most anthropologists that respect for the dead is the very first step humans took towards becoming civilized. This offends the most basic nature of human religion and morality. The humiliating decades of offense that this poor persons remains have suffered for the sophomoric and macabre amusement of spoiled little rich boys is beyond indulgent, lax or permissive. And now they will heap further desecration and violation on this poor soul (literally not figuratively) by actually auctioning his/her remains used by spoiled rich boys for their entertainment and now sold for profit for some other rich persons admiration of a group of people who have caused some of the greatest cruelty and wickedness this world has seen. Compared to Alumni's resume of atrocities I suppose a couple of bones are the least of their transgressions and crimes. But crime it is and putting aside all moral outrage and political objection this is simply illegal and criminal. I suggest all people outraged and offended by this make a formal complaint with both the Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General's Office of Andrew Cuomo. Feel free to use any of my wording. http://www.ag.ny.gov/contact.html http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/contact.shtm

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Alleged Skull and Bones artifact up for auction