Deanna of Collector's Quest wrote about 19th Century vampire killing kits.
These are expensive kits, made for the wealthy; not some cheap and cheesy plastic novelty items. Such luxury concedes a seriousness -- a deadly seriousness. These items were made to address deep, dark, primal fears. And then, like our fears often are, they were not thrown away but stored in equally dark and out of the way places... Antique wooden killing kits in the attics of old houses, just waiting for the day when the creatures creep from the attics of our minds.Antique Vampire Killing KitsFascinated, I spoke with Dwight Stevens, of Stevens Auction Company, on the phone yesterday about the antique piece of vampire history.
"I don't believe in vampires -- I've never met one. But somebody believed in them, something drove people to believe... From New Orleans to Vicksburg, these old boxes remain." Stevens has sold four vampire killing kits in his 27 years as an auctioneer, most recently selling one a year ago, in Natchez, Mississippi, for $1485.
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I have ran into a couple of vampire kits in the antique shops along Royal st. in New Orleans, both were about $15,000. Each time the high price was explained away because of rarity, rarity and quality. I would have loved to pick one up, but,,,.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the vast majority of "Vampire killing kits" are decidedly fake. Buyer beware!
I'm deeply skeptical of these vampire killing kits. I suspect that at least some of them were assembled out of individual items of comparatively little value by contemporary antiques dealers. Also, I'm no historian, but I've lived down south all of my life and I've never ran across any authentic vampire legends, yet these kits keep turning up here.
It's fake. That case was obviously made to hold quidditch balls.
"Dracula" was cobbled together from various folklore in 1897, so any kit that looks like Dr. Van Helsing's personal attaché case should be taken with a grain of salt.
Take a look at the auction company's web site- it's not exactly something that communicates rigorous authenticity and professionalism.
What's the tiny little coffin for?
Now, now. Let's not go calling this a fake without a close inspection. The fact that it is not an Ernst Blomberg Vampire Kit makes authenticity slightly more likely. However, I can't really imagine this kit pre-dating the publication of Dracula (1897) by 40 years, since vampires had not achieved their peak notoriety until then.
The inclusion of a heavy cleaver and cudgel suggests they were serious about decapitating the undead at least....
Mr. Spooky
Though I'm unable to site it at the moment, it is said that the first "vampire hunting kit" was actually assembled by a particular man (whose name I forget) who dealt in antique arms in the early 20th century. He had a small pepperbox derringer that he couldn't get rid of, and so he threw together a few antiques with it, and wrote a fake how to to go with the kit. Every kit since then is just another forgery of the original kit.
Hell, even I've got a few vampire hunting kits (I own a sideshow, and mine are all modern fabrication). It's not hard to find antiques of that period and throw them together.
I'll search later today to find something to site.
Maybe that headline should have quotes around "from".
I know someone that makes similar Vampire kits. Here is his website: http://www.alanzimberg.com/vampire.htm
One of his boxes is for sale at an art show in DC this weekend: http://www.washingtondcantiquesartandjewelryshow.com/visitors.html
If these kits are real, they are clearly ineffective. If they worked, vampires would have been eliminated a century ago, instead of the current epidemic cluttering up our televisions and bookstores.
Totally fake. My mother has that same EXACT crucifix, it's from the 50s, not the 1800s.
vampire vampire, fookin vampire!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibaB1g1dnws
Another collection of antique objects thrown in a box and sold for 4-5 times what they would be worth on their own...
Depending on the brand and condition, that pistol might be had for $125 or less at a gun show
Is there any period literature on these things? NO. One would think that some victorian journalist somewhhere, desperate for copy would have written an article about these ofr the people who made them?
My guess is that any genuinely old ones were put together around the time of the Dracula stage production with Bela Lugosi, just before the film came out in 1931