Wow, a month without making any kind of post :x Damn I've been busy and I apologize! ^_^' When you are a freelance worker there are times that you have pretty much nothing to do and then times like this, I have so many stuff I can barely scratch myself.
Anyway! I wanted to make a post about Oddities and some pics of my (still small) collection. People get pretty curious about this subject, some just get freaked out, but I get a bunch of questions and sometimes stupid remarks, so I'll try to make this post the most insightful I can.
So, first of all, what the heck are oddities?
An odditie collection is a collection of the bizarre, odd, weird stuff, this can be pretty generic I know, but mostly it's a bundle of vintage creepy objects, bones, preserved dead 'things', it can be animals or human parts, x-rays, medical and scientific trinkets in general, anything for the oddly curious :)
I think that odditie collectors just love anything with history, something that you can look upon and wonder everything that happened to that specific item until you got a hold of it.
(Jaws and spine bones of a dog)
"You're a sycho, why would you want to collect dead animals?"
Many people will say or think this of you, basically because they think that anything dead is disgusting or scary, I have a different perspective obviously. I don't think that because a living being died, it suddently gets disgusting, ugly and valueless. Death is just a part of our existence ( if you believe it to go on or not.. well that's another topic). I love animals and by collecting their bones or their preserved bodies I feel a connection to the little creatures, I find them beautifull and intriguing, I feel like I'm taking care of them now that they're at another "stage" of their existence. I have nothing but respect for them. Which brings me to another statment that people usually make which is - "You have no respect for animals." Obviously we have different perspectives. Most of the people I know throw their pets in the trash when they pass away, that for me is disrespectful, for some it isn't, so let´s just agree to disagree.
(Full skeleton of a dog, minus the skull, and huge unknown bone)
How can I start my collection?
The fastest and easiest way to get what you want is buying it. There are innumerous oddities stores in the US, but if you live somewhere else, like me, you're screwed. I really don't know any stores in Europe (if you do please share with me :P) and you can't buy online from the US because by law they can't ship any wildlife items (including preserved animals of any kind and bones) altough I've seen some sellers on eBay selling bones worldwide, but I haven't ordered from there yet, so I'm not sure how that works.
Here are some links if you are a lucky bastard and are able to order anything from them:
For those who can't order, or just prefer to get the items yourself instead of buying them (I must say, although harder, it is much more gratifying), you just need to get out in the 'wild' and look for them :)
I think I haven't mentioned this before, because I thought it was obvious, but anyway: DON'T KILL ANY ANIMALS FOR YOUR COLLECTION, everything collected must be done so because the animal is already dead, by natural causes or any way that you couldn't intervene in any way to help the animal or avoid his death. If you decide to buy something ASK the seller first what happened to the animal, how did he die, etc make sure you are NOT contributing to animal cruelty in any way.
Now that we got that out of the way, schedule an afternoon walk with a couple of friends for some "treasure" hunting! The more the merrier, since you have extra eyes to search for what sometimes can be really small stuff. If your friends don't wanna help you in your "treasure hunt" I'm sorry to say you don't have cool friends like mine, ah! :D
Search for green zones in your area, or anywhere you think there's a greater change to encounter wildlife. Don't forget to bring gloves with you! Dead animals are full of diseases, don't touch them bare-handed!
In my last search I found a skeleton of a dog, a huge rat and what I believe to be cat bones. I also found a fossil of a shell and a huge bone that I have no idea where it comes from.
(Bones from what I believe to be a huge rat or a small cat or most likely a mix of both, since I found a tiny paw, pic below, but also a big claw at the same place.)
This is starting to get a pretty big post, so I'm just gonna leave you with some helpful links and if you have any more questions just ask! :)
Helpful Links
