THE LIFE SIZE SKULLS OF EDWARD MORDAKE ON WOODEN DISPLAY STAND, FREAK VICTORIAN

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THE LIFE SIZE SKULLS OF EDWARD MORDAKE ON WOODEN DISPLAY STAND, FREAK VICTORIAN
My latest piece just finished. The skull of Edward Mordake.
The duplicate face could not see, eat or speak out loud but was said to "sneer while Mordake was happy" and "smile while Mordake was weeping". Mordake repeatedly begged doctors to have his "demon face" removed, claiming that it whispered things that "one would only speak about in hell" at night, but no doctor would attempt it."The following well-known story of Edward Mordake, though taken from lay sources, is of sufficient notoriety and interest to be mentioned here:—
“One of the weirdest as well as most melancholy stories of human deformity is that of Edward Mordake, said to have been heir to one of the noblest peerages in England. He never claimed the title, however, and committed suicide in his twenty-third year.
He lived in complete seclusion, refusing the visits even of the members of his own family. He was a young man of fine attainments, a profound scholar, and a musician of rare ability. His figure was remarkable for its grace, and his face—that is to say, his natural face—was that of an Antinous.
But upon the back of his head was another face, that of a beautiful girl, ‘lovely as a dream, hideous as a devil.’ The female face was a mere mask, ‘occupying only a small portion of the posterior part of the skull, yet exhibiting every sign of intelligence, of a malignant sort, however.’ It would be seen to smile and sneer while Mordake was weeping. The eyes would follow the movements of the spectator, and the lips would ‘gibber without ceasing.’ No voice was audible, but Mordake avers that he was kept from his rest at night by the hateful whispers of his ‘devil twin,’ as he called it, ‘which never sleeps, but talks to me forever of such things as they only speak of in hell. No imagination can conceive the dreadful temptations it sets before me. For some unforgiven wickedness of my forefathers I am knit to this fiend—for a fiend it surely is. I beg and beseech you to crush it out of human semblance, even if I die for it.’
Such were the words of the hapless Mordake to Manvers and Treadwell, his physicians. In spite of careful watching he managed to procure poison, whereof he died, leaving a letter requesting that the ‘demon face’ might be destroyed before his burial, ‘lest it continues its dreadful whisperings in my grave.’ At his own request he was interred in a waste place, without stone or legend to mark his grave.”
PLEASE NOTE THE SKULLS IS NOT REAL!
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Sadly t
he Thai postal service now charges .00 a kilo by air, land sea is a lot cheaper but takes longer. Before this Covid virus Thai post had an economy air service that they no longer do so airmail is a lot more expensive but much quicker.
Due to the size, shape and being slightly fragile, some pieces will have to be specially wrapped, boxed and insured for loss only which shows in the shipping cost, I do not intend to take any chances with these pieces, better safe than sorry, it would be heart breaking to think it arrived broken and deserves looking after.
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I do my best to bring you unique and sometimes very rare items. I can sell you an item, wrap it as carefully as I can and then ship it to you. I cannot control what Thai post charges for shipping or tell you the exact time it takes to arrive to you, and can only give you a rough idea from past dealings, I have no control what so ever over any postal service's or U.S. customs.
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