I've posted things like this before, being impressive fan made movie prop type items. This is not such a thing - in fact it resides in a Museum! The Mercer Museum in Doylestown Pennsylvania hosts this intriguing item, which has the following entry in the catalogue:
| Object Title | Vampire Killing Kit |
| Accession Number | 89.06.001.01-.11 |
| Object Description | Leather covered wooden case, hinged and divided into a top and bottom section. Sections are divided into compartments and lined with felt. Top section has latching leather cover enclosing contents. Case includes (top section): flowers of garlic, two vials of 'serum', glass syringe, silver needle, magnifying glass. Bottom section of case includes: powder flask, bullet mold, crucifix/wooden stake, pistol, two silver bullets with crosses cut into them, and two lead balls. A paper label describing kit and contents is affixed to inside of leather cover enclosing top section. |
| Materials | wood; leather; Steel; Brass; ivory; glass; silver; Iron; mother-of-pearl; felt |
| Label/Mark/Inscription | Vampire Killing Kit/This box contains the items considered necessary, for the protection of persons who/travel into little known countries of Eastern Europe, where the populace are/plagued with a particular manifestation of evil known as VAMPIRES. Professor Ernst Blomberg respectfully requests that the purchaser of this kit, carefully studies his book/in order, should evil manifestations become apparent, he is equipped to deal with them/efficiently. Professor Blomberg wishes to announce his grateful thanks to that well-known/gunmaker of Liege, Nicholas Plomdeur whose help in the compiling of the special items, the silver bullets etc. has been most efficient. (LABEL) |
| History of Use | The kit was examined by Dr. Jeffrey A. Baylor while he was working on his PhD disertation on Vampirism in Literature (Lehigh University). Dr. Baylor said that both the contents of the case and the label include elements of vampiric lore that existed at many different times in the 19th and 20th centuries, and he considered it unlikely that these elements would have been combined this way in the mid-19th century. Based on a literary analysis, he did not believe the kit was authentic |
| Measurements | Height: 3.500 in Width: 11.000 in Depth: 7.000 in |
http://starweb.mercermuseum.org/starweb/MercerCollections/servlet.starweb#?
3 comments:
I like how the stake is shaped like a cross.
That makes it multi-purpose I guess!
A give-away would be that the label looks suspiciously modern.
The paper has an aged, yellowed appearance that shouldn't be there given the label is on the inside of the box and presumably therefore would be protected from the light most of the time.
The type used for most of the text on the label looks like a modern font.
Finally the type used for the heading on the label is in such a phony-looking gothic font.
Good prop though! :)
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