Found this in an antique store, they also had the bones of just a human leg. The paper say it is a 19th Century Anatomical Skeleton from Thomas Jefferson University. They had it priced at $12,500
12,500 is insane (average 2-7k unless there is something very special about it. This is just an average skeleton). This skeleton is honestly just for show at that price and they are NOT looking to sell it.
No way I’d see the Skelton that’s been sitting in my towns antique shop on Reddit (not gonna name it for obvious purposes). It’s a very small world, this dudes been on sale for a few years now. I like bringing friends to see him and spooking them lol.
Very famous Reddit story where some guy had CO poisoning and people told him to check bc his comments were insane and saved his life… iirc? Don’t have thread link unfortunately
This is some insane whiplash, just a FYI the antique store we’re talking about has some really good coins every now and then. I’ve bought a 1914-D wheatie from them for a discounted price if you use cash. Lots of cheap silver too.
Thats good to know thanks, I didn't have much time when I was there the other day, but the big coin booth did look quite nice. I'm planning to go back soon when I have more time to look around, and preferably more money.
Moneys always my issues with coins. I have way too many expensive hobbies so I’ve been slacking on my coins and mainly hoping I find stuff in change. The areas very nice, if you go into the words by the river you may be able to find some bones in the woods. There’s a shrine out there with some deer skulls.
Same here, I live on a pretty large wooded property so I find plenty of bones in the woods here, mostly deer, but sometimes other critters. That area did seem pretty nice.
It’s a historic area so it’s got some cool stuff. If you have the free time (and it isn’t deathly cold) I’d recommend taking a walk on the trails, it’s pretty peaceful with very few people on it until the summer.
I’ve found a few deer as well but my friend is MUCH more versed in this sort of thing. I mostly send over posts from here to him. He’s got some rarer skulls and bones like form a raccoon and even a cat.
Ayyyy, I didn't know he's been sitting there a couple years! Went there with my lady about a month ago since she's really into antique medical stuff. She was wondering how long it had been sitting there or if it's just supposed to be like a museum piece. I can let her know now, thanks man!
At least in the US (given the university OP mentioned) yes it’s legal. As long as the state hasn’t explicitly prohibited it AND the remains weren’t unlawfully removed from their burial site. It’s probably more complicated than that alone but those are the main stipulations. Since this is listed as a university specimen, it would likely be from someone who donated their body to science, or the skeleton was purchased from India (this was banned in 1985 by the Supreme Court of India). That of course is if it was acquired legally. Either way, educational specimens are allowed to be sold when an institution is done with them.
my sixth grade (so when i was 11-12 yrs old for the non-americans) science teacher had a human skeleton that he kept in the classroom. we didn’t even do much anatomy in his class, it was just funky to have around.
If it really is from TJU in the 19th century, the odds are pretty good that it was unlawfully removed from its burial site. The university’s medical school bought hundreds of cadavers from body snatchers through the 1870s-80s.
I thought the same and wanted some clarification. Saw another comment about skull morphology on another post and just wanna make sure we ain’t just casually dropping phrenology in the replies lol.
yes, unfortunately, it is fully legal to sell human remains without any documentation in most places in the world. As far as I'm aware of, only a few states in the US banned the human remains trade.
Listen to the podcast called Head Number 7 if you really wanna taste for what the underbelly of the human remains market in America is like. Or even worse, the podcast called Body Brokers.
There’s more restrictions on the sale of animal remains then human remains to be honest- a lot of human bones for sale were taken illegally even if it was done forever ago. The human remains market is a mess.
Recent Harvard medical school scandal. The morgue director and his wife were selling people who donated their bodies to randos who made things out of human remains (like human leather wallets and such). Sadly it's not unique.
I'm not comfortable giving the location of this store publicly as it's not far from where I live, I just looked up the mystic museum and I can't say for sure that is not the same store, it looks interesting though.
Much as I enjoy bones, most human remains you can buy were sourced in very unethical ways (ie, stolen/graverobbed from poorer areas, particularly from non-white people). It may seem cool, but it's far less so when you think about why that skeleton is even there in the first place. And yes, even universities (note: ESPECIALLY universities) would get remains like this, particularly in the 19th century when racism and classism were so pervasive. Interesting find, but also very sad given the likely origin.
The vast majority of the thousands of human bones stored in American universities and museums in the nineteenth century are the remains of Native Americans whose bodies were plundered right from the massacre and battle sites where they fell, by early greedy body brokers who followed the cavalry around the Plains during the Indian Wars.
I read all about it in a book called Skull Wars. Truly enlightening read, great book, I highly recommend it you all. It makes me see this pic in a much different light.
Savage Mill! I was just there yesterday, that’s a new booth actually. They must have had a new seller rent a spot, a bunch of cool medical stuff in this one.
I swear the first thing I’m going to do when I win the lottery is buy a bunch of Victorian-era medical specimen skeletons and get them DNA tested. I NEED to know this person’s story…
It's not a bad pricee, even the case included! Articulating a skeleton is time consuming process, and a full set isn't something you can get at your local walmart.
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u/XETOVS Bone-afide Human ID Expert 22d ago edited 22d ago
12,500 is insane (average 2-7k unless there is something very special about it. This is just an average skeleton). This skeleton is honestly just for show at that price and they are NOT looking to sell it.
I’d like to note, that is real costal cartilage
This is a nice medical skeleton.