This is an exquisite specimen of brain coral we acquired (April 2003)...but this is no ORDINARY coral .. this is a coral with a moral - Glenn says behind every BRAIN (sarcastically speaking)...there's a....(see the bottom of the page...)

Talk about being green, why not wear a bug?  

What's so weird about that?  Well, it's an Emerald Beetle from Thailand, about 1-1/2" long.  

The Thai people catch them and EAT THEM.  They pull off the wings and scoop out the nutty flavored white meat - the long-fingered ladies in particular scoop the meat out easily with their nails.  

These beetles died naturally after reproducing, then are made into pins with brass pieces with legs, glued to the bottom, and then sold as lovely insect jewelry!  

 

#W-1  Emerald beetle brooch, 1-1/2" long.

#W-1-A  Cool Emerald beetle wing cluster earrings, 2" long.

GATOR FOOT COFFEE MUG?  

What a hoot of a conversation piece, and functional too, if you wish, as a mug, beer stein or even a pen holder for your desk.  Available exclusively from us.  Mug is black ceramic or clear glass.  Hand wash only.

This size comes from MONSTER gators over 11 feet long to get this size.  Priced as shown.

Go to the GATORS PAGE 3, item #G343 series to view them ALL, with the prices:

Gators Page 3

$19 each

The legend of the roo pouch:  

Once upon a time there lived in the center of Australia an aboriginal boy.  One day he came upon a small kangaroo in the bush, caught it by the tail, and made a purse out of its dear little symbol of masculinity.  He gave it to his girl, and she kept seeds and berries in it.  Next he saw a large kangaroo.  He caught it with a spear and made another purse from its thick symbol of masculinity.  He gave it to his father who kept stones and things of value in it.

Ever since then, male kangaroo scrotum purses have been popular amongst the aborigines.  For women, the soft pliable one; for men, the strong, wrinkled one.  They became as important as one's own symbol of masculinity and were recognized as bringing luck.  That's why kangaroo scrotum purses are called "Lucky Bags" or "Lucky Pouches".

 

(0 available) $34.00

#W-4-B.  Bet you'll never guess what kind of skin this is (shown top, bottom and closeup, measures 19" long x 9" wide)

(also called Leichhardt's sawfish, Freshwater sawfish); (Pristis microdon), now an endangered species.  These specimens come from collections long pre-dating the endangered status.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Chondrichthyes

Subclass:  Elasmobranchii

Order:  Pristiformes

Family: Pristidae

Genus: Pristis

Genuine saw fish bills from northern Australia. The largetooth sawfish is a heavily-bodied sawfish with a short but massive saw which is broad-based, strongly tapering and with 14 to 22 very large teeth on each side - the space between the last two saw-teeth on the sides are less than twice the space between the first two teeth.  found in shallow tropical Indo-West Pacific oceans from East Africa to Papua New Guinea, north to the Philippines & Viet Nam, and south to Australia. 

The sizes of these blades make a SPECTACULAR wall display

U.S. shipping only, Fedex ground insured shipping will be calculated to 48 states, Fedex Express to Alaska & Hawaii

       

#W-6-A.  It is COMPLETE, shown front and back.  It measures a full 4 foot 3" long; 34 teeth average size 2"+; bill is 10" across at the base, 4" across at the tip, 1-1/2" thick.  Superb specimen!  

#W-6-D.  Sawfish bill is 52" long x 6-3/8" across tip,12-5/8" across base. Superb specimen!    

#W-6-E.  Sawfish bill is 42" long x 7-3/8" across tip,12-3/8" across base, rough tip.

#W-6-F.  Sawfish bill is 44" long x 8-1/4" across tip,12" across base, rough tip.

S

The sizes of these blades make a terrific wall display.  More information below.

Actual Fedex ground insured shipping to 48 states will apply, or Fedex express to Alaska & Hawaii.  

NO SHIPPING OUTSIDE THE U.S. for these items.

          

#W-6-1.  Sawfish bill shown front and back.  It measures a full 40" long; 23 pairs of teeth average size 1-1/4"; bill is 6-1/2" across at the base, 4-1/2" across at the tip, 1" thick.    

#W-6-2.  Sawfish bill s

#W-6-3.  Sawfish bill shown front and back.  It measures a full 44-1/2" long; 27 pairs of teeth average size -1-1/2"; bill is 6-1/2" across at the base, 5" across at the tip, 3/4" thick.

Sawfishes belong to a group of fishes called elasmobranch that includes sharks, rays, and skates.  All Elasmobranch species have a skeleton made of cartilage like sharks.  Sawfishes are actually a type of ray.  Sawfishes all fit into one family known as Pristidae, derived from a Greek term meaning "saw".  Sawfishes possess the characteristic long, flattened, toothed saw, a flattened head and trunk, and a shark-like appearance and manner of swimming.  Once lost, the teeth along the saw are not replaced.  Sawfishes worldwide are poorly studied and no one knows for sure the number of living species, but there are an estimated four to seven species worldwide.  

Smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) 23-34 teeth per side

Largetooth sawfish (Pristis perotteti).  17-22 teeth per side

(Masters of disguise)

(Xenophora Palidula, Phillipines)

Heidi's favorite, the Master of Disguise in the shell family.  As they grow, they attach a variety of objects to themselves, ranging from dead shells and coral, to pebbles and even bits of garbage left by humans (see the glass bottle top in the photo below, from a shell book).  These items slowly twirl to the center top of the shell as the shell grows larger.  A deepwater shell in most of the world's warm seas

Acquired in the New Mexico desert, near Alamagordo NM, believe it or not.  One of the largest zebra skins, in excellent condition.  Includes legs, tail, mane, and head leather.

#W-8    Tip of nose to base of tail is 9 feet long; width across front legs is 79"; width across rear legs is 78"; tail measures 32"; widest part of head between ears is 17"; width across the nose is 14"

$1095  SOLD

#W-30-A

Five coyote teeth (4 are 1-1/2", bottom tooth is 1-5/8") on white cow bone beads with red glass beads, 20" long

#W-30-B

1-5/8" long coyote tooth on white cow bone and red glass slim beads, 19" long.

#W-30-C

1-7/8" long coyote tooth on 19" white cow bone bead necklace.

#W-30-D

Three coyote teeth (1-5/8" long) on slim bone and red glass beads, 19" long.

#W-30-E

1-1/2" coyote tooth on 19" brown bone and black onyx bead necklace.  

$32.00

#W-30-F

1-7/8" long coyote tooth on antiqued cow bone beads, 19" long

#W-30-L

1-5/8" coyote tooth on round white bone bead and red glass bead, 18" necklace

Natural teeth may be smooth or have incomplete enamel but there are no cracks, all are stable & strong.

#W35-1

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#W35-20

Black cotton cord necklace with gold tone beads

#W35-21

Black cotton cord necklace with silver tone beads

#W35-50  Made with a slice of moose horn, gut string weaving, and a polyurethane coated MOOSE tooth, on a 30" knotted rawhide suede necklace (can be knotted to any length)

SPERM WHALE TOOTH NECKLACE 

FROM  FIJI TRIBAL CHIEFTAIN, 

worn by a smiling Glenn !

The ultimate Valentine's Day "Gift", Glenn was using the hot glue gun and accidently touched the side of his hand into two drops of hot glue which made a heart, around Jan. 31, 2004, close enough to Feb. 14 to make it an interesting coincidence.  

This is a house made entirely of genuine DINOSAUR BONE!  No kidding!  It's in Medicine Bow, Wyoming.  Look on either side of the "Fossil Cabin" sign for dinosaur leg bones that are the most obvious, but we checked it out and it's for real!  Ripley's calls it the "Oldest House in the World", the house that "walked 175 million years ago".  Is that cool or what?

This is a GIGANTIC 650 pound carving of a dragon turtle within the boulder, still attached inside!  Chinese artwork, estimated circa 1950's by Tsui Tsan Pin of Chekiang Providence.  Measures about a yard long, 18" wide and high.  WOWS every single person that stepped into our store (we no longer have a storefront, he now graces the foyer of our home as you can see on our home page).  Detail of carving, natural color contrasts from outside to inside of boulder (Chinese native soapstone) and sheer SIZE commands your attention!  We call it "The Ancient One".  Extremely important good luck symbol for  the Chinese -  they generally leave money at his feet and sometimes bow and back away when leaving.  The dragon turtle is also considered an important feng shui symbolism.  It was carved in an isolated area in the Province of Chekiang.

Valued at: $28,000 (this is in our personal collection, not for sale)

If you enjoy Mr. Turtle as much as we do, you can now purchase a reconstituted marble, molded mini version that is REMARKABLE on our Gem Animals page 5, click here:  Gem Animals Page 5

Shrunken heads from Ecuador (actually it's goatskin that's been dampened and stretched over a wooden face form where it shrunk and dried, was cut away from the form, and hair shaved away, lips sewn shut.  Pretty weird, wouldn't you say?)  Here's more photos of museum quality goat skin shrunken heads we have handled in the past:

THERE REALLY ARE SHRUNKEN HEADS, BUT THEY'RE IN MUSEUMS

Shrinking a head to the size of a baseball is a grisly but fascinating custom. The people of South America known as the "Jivaro" in Ecuador, Peru and Brazil are well known for shrinking the heads of their enemies.  This practice dates back to 200 B.C.  Raids on alien tribes are carried out specifically to secure "tsantsas", or shrunken head trophies.  The attacks are usually small and carried out on one house where the victim may be caught unawares.  Although the heads of men, women and children are taken, it is more frequently an adult warrior's head that is sought.  The trophies bring prestige to the head takers and trap the "avenging" or "miusak" souls of their victims, giving the taker power and prevention of vengeance against them.

The first step is the removal of the head.  The skin is cut around the top parts of the chest and back, and the head is cut off close to the collar bone.  The head taker then passes a vine through the head to carry it, and makes a fast retreat.  The head is prepared over 5 or 6 days during brief stops on the return home.  A slit is made in the back of the head, and the skin is carefully removed from the skull.  The skull is thrown into the river as a "gift to the anaconda".  The skin is then boiled in plain water or an herbal solution for half an hour.  By now it is half its original size.  It is then placed over a stick and left to dry.

The skin is now turned inside out, and any remaining flesh is scraped away.  It is turned right side out again, and the slip in the back is sewn together and the mouth is tied shut, sometimes the eyes being sewn shut as well.  Several small rocks are heated in a fire and placed into the skin.  They are rolled around inside until cool, dumped, and the process is repeated until the tsantsa has shrunk too much to accommodate the stones.  Hot sand is used to continue the shrinking.  It may be hung over a smoldering fire overnight which turns the color from yellowish to black.  It may be polished with ash as well.  At this time, the head is shaped and a hot knife pressed against the mouth to dry it.  Throughout the shrinking process, the neck must be drawn closed with a string that has been sewn through it, so it will remain proportionate to the head.

The warriors enter the home village with the shrunken heads tied around their necks.  Then the tsantsa rituals begin again...there was a time when these warriors found a commercial gain from selling the heads, and made forays to other tribes for this purpose.  Governments worldwide wisely banned the sale or purchase of real shrunken heads, except for the purpose of display in limited museums.  

So now you know the story of the REAL shrunken heads!

Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC, a genuine shrunken head:

I apologize for the low quality of the picture, but it was quite dark - I should have used a flash!  But you get the idea.  Ripley's owns the largest collection of genuine shrunken heads in the world.  

Here's a better photo of a REAL shrunken head...

There's even a comprehensive book available now about genuine shrunken heads (runs about $75) that can be obtained from the Malter Galleries Inc. (go online to find the company).

Finally, if you want to see MORE REAL SHRUNKEN HEADS...

http://www.angelfire.com/id2/tower7/BwanaMuseum.htm

This is an old buffalo vertebrae with a genuine Indian arrowhead protruding from the spinal column.  Good shot!  

$135.00  SOLD

This is our good friend-Rona-from-New-Jersey-who-started-out-as -a-customer, modeling my vintage 1920's "Gold Coast Monkey" coat.  YES, it's genuine monkey ! I bought it in California (I'm NOT a fur person, but this was too intriguing to pass up) and since it's vintage and now endangered, it's a pretty special piece.  Thank goodness it's not being made anymore.  The hair is like real human hair - it's really spooky.  It was assessed at $20,000 by a Consignment fur store in Beverly Hills, CA.  And though that is the ideal venue to sell the coat at the highest possible price, they do not handle endangered species.

We are not in the market to buy another.  So if you have a similar coat or stole that has been passed down to you, you may evaluate its worth by checking on Ebay where we have found monkey fur coats sold on a regular basis, though generally not this quality and hence, not at this price.

Valued at $9500 but not for sale

 Three-eyed Wally - our freeze-dried gator head from the bayous in Louisiana.  Deformities such as this (a Siamese twin - see the extra upper jaw? --even an extra hole where the 4th eye would have been?) occurred when the oil companies in the 1930's took the byproduct of oil (dioxin), put it in barrels and buried it in the swamps.  It leaked into the water and caused this and other oddities.  Glenn actually has about 380 heads in the collection (next picture)  that documents this pollution by man.  We can learn from this!   See more close up photos of the collection on the Gators page 6 !

Here's 300 of the collection of 350+ of the deformed, freeze dried gator heads in our former South Carolina store!  See the "Gator" pages for more up-close and personals!  

Fossilized juvenile walrus oosik, polished, 9" long.   (penis bone).  Some animals, such as seal, sea lion, polar bear, walrus and raccoon do have a real bone, as you see.  How odd is that?  SOLD.    More available on the Oosiks  page (Fossils page 6).

   This is a REAL ostrich chick, taxidermied when it died at birth at an ostrich farm in California.  It is mounted on a composite base with the egg, and is 17" long x 10" wide x 7" high.  SOLD 3/18/02.  We'll leave the picture for you to enjoy!

This is one of our oddity displays in our store to give you an idea of what we have - FIRST photo - a genuine dinosaur egg, mud concretions from a glacier, strange stones formed by lightning, deformed gator feet & our famous 3-eyed Wally gator, also a blind gator; 

SECOND photo - Pre-Columbian terra cotta necklaces and also beads used in their SLUG worship, human tooth beads; and..are those REAL modern human teeth there?..only the store owners know for sure...then there's our buffalo vertebrae with the arrowhead through to the spinal column, and fossil tree branches from Alaska;

THIRD photo - Our famous Mugwump formation from Area 51 (inverted, it was caused from rainfall that solidified the sand into a type of concretion - but we like to think it was an alien creation to keep the mystery alive!); also our menacing black scorpion, and the emerald beetle made into jewelry after it's eaten.

FOURTH photo - Our Sperm whale tooth chieftan's necklace with etchings made by the natives, and giant stingray barbs (fresh) from Australia.

We've got another large display of identified fossils, (see Fossils pages) and another of unusual gemstones (Rocks & Minerals pages). 

Note:  U.S. Postal Service Airmail shipping is INCLUDED in all our prices for U.S. customers - upgrades to PRIORITY or EXPRESS available, view pricing on Order page; ANYWHERE ELSE in the world, add $2.50 for small items to fly airmail (7-10 day arrival) or view PRIORITY or EXPRESS MAIL pricing on the Order page.  

WE SHIP WITHIN 48 HOURS OF PAYMENT (barring postal holidays & Sundays),  ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. 

WHERE ON EARTH?

Glenn & Heidi Reed

P. O. Box 50597, Myrtle Beach, SC  29579, U.S.A.

Phone: 843-347-8724 

Email: whatnext@sccoast.net

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WE SHIP ANYWHERE!