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How does someone tell if a Tibetan skull cup or Kapala is made with real skull?

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So I was gifted a Tibetan skull cup and I was told it was real skull. But I am curious as to if it is and such. Any way to tell? The one I have is metal on the inside and has little skulls around the outside edge. The outside looks like wood and has detailed designs carved in it.

 

Thanks Any info appreciated.

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With that particular shape, it could easily be an animal skull. Well that and the skull decorations around it make me suspicious. I've never seen a legit one like that before... and not the standard decorating style as far as I know.

 

A taxidermist would likely be able to tell you.

 

How come *my* friends don't give me old tibetan skulls? ;)

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I used to sell them and other stuff for Importers. 15 years ago they were an illegal export ... for some reason the pics wont open for me, so I dont know what you mean by 'wood on the outside' ? Lined with metal is common .

 

Sure it could be smuggled .... or could have been taken out the country a long long time ago. On odds I would doubt it. Depend on shape and dimensions as well. Most other bone artifacts are yak bone.

 

Does it make a difference? What are you going to use it for? If its just a show piece then just declare it is human and perpetuate its myth ;) ... in some places holding human artifacts is illegal .

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Jeez, I thought it was a colorful knitted 'skull' cap and that 'real skull' was a euphemism.

 

Huh, its not, a tibetan skull cap is a decorated metalized human skull! WTF. What do you drink out of it, spring water.. blood?? One more reason to avoid tibet and the crazed head hunters that roam there.

mostly kidding.

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I used to sell them and other stuff for Importers. 15 years ago they were an illegal export ... for some reason the pics wont open for me, so I dont know what you mean by 'wood on the outside' ? Lined with metal is common .

 

Sure it could be smuggled .... or could have been taken out the country a long long time ago. On odds I would doubt it. Depend on shape and dimensions as well. Most other bone artifacts are yak bone.

 

Does it make a difference? What are you going to use it for? If its just a show piece then just declare it is human and perpetuate its myth ;) ... in some places holding human artifacts is illegal .

 

Owning human skulls is perfectly legal in mewtwo's location ;).

 

Nungali that definitely sounds like a fun job!

 

I've heard some interesting stories about folks getting ngangas from one country to another just fine.....

 

Jeez, I thought it was a colorful knitted 'skull' cap and that 'real skull' was a euphemism.

 

Huh, its not, a tibetan skull cap is a decorated metalized human skull! WTF. What do you drink out of it, spring water.. blood?? One more reason to avoid tibet and the crazed head hunters that roam there.

mostly kidding.

 

 

 

As I understand it such items are taken from honoured folks *after* they die. Same with the skull bead necklaces.

 

PS this is what some of the fancy full skull ones look like!

 

Kapala-01.jpg

 

Hmmm found this on some website:

NvQ7authentic-tibetan-skull-tibetan-monk-with-ornate-silver.jpg

This is a ritual bowl made out of the top of a human skull. Yes, that’s right. While illegal, untold numbers of these made it through Customs among the mountains of other strangeness.

 

 

 

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Wild yogis playing kanglings (human thigh bone trumpets) and I imagine a few damarus made from human skulls.

 

 

ch96.jpg

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A friend of mine is v.tall and has v,long legs ... once she went to a see a Tibetan visiting lama. He was talking to her and then noticed her legs ... "Oh ... very nice legs." Her (surprised) " Well, thank you... I think ... but aren't you a monk."

 

Him (laughs) " No no .... good for trumpet." She hadnt known about the bone thing previously ... made her :unsure:

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You test it by poking it with a needle heated red hot. If it smells like barbecue, it's real. If it smells like plastic, it's plastic.

 

The same method is used for amber -- and that's why a gift of an "amber skull" went on a garage sale in my household instead of on the altar. Except with amber you sniff for pine resin, not barbecue.

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You test it by poking it with a needle heated red hot. If it smells like barbecue, it's real. If it smells like plastic, it's plastic.

 

The same method is used for amber -- and that's why a gift of an "amber skull" went on a garage sale in my household instead of on the altar. Except with amber you sniff for pine resin, not barbecue.

 

Lots of the "human skull" items are often bones from other animals though :(.

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Lots of the "human skull" items are often bones from other animals though :(.

Really? I didn't know that. The human skull has a rather distinct structure though, didn't know it's that easy to fake. Not impossible, but wouldn't it require more labor and expertise than procuring a real one?

 

Among the most unforgettable things I saw in Lima, Peru, at the Franciscan monastery was a whole bunch of large round pits in the catacombs, each filled with either human skulls -- a layer ten meters deep -- or with the thigh bones (both a favorite of the Skull and Bones society that supplies so many overlords to this country), arranged in concentric circles. The guide proclaimed, very rapidly, that these have no significance whatsoever and were collected and arranged like that for no reason at all. I'm not kidding.

 

That monastery had other unforgettable stuff -- e.g. the monks' dining hall is adorned with a huge painting (from circa the 17th century if memory serves) depicting the Last Supper, with Jesus and the apostles drinking ayahuasca. Oh, and eating a roast guinea pig.

Edited by Taomeow
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Really? I didn't know that. The human skull has a rather distinct structure though, didn't know it's that easy to fake. Not impossible, but wouldn't it require more labor and expertise than procuring a real one?

 

Among the most unforgettable things I saw in Lima, Peru, at the Franciscan monastery was a whole bunch of large round pits in the catacombs, each filled with either human skulls -- a layer ten meters deep -- or with the thigh bones (both a favorite of the Skull and Bones society that supplies so many overlords to this country), arranged in concentric circles. The guide proclaimed, very rapidly, that these have no significance whatsoever and were collected and arranged like that for no reason at all. I'm not kidding.

 

That monastery had other unforgettable stuff -- e.g. the monks' dining hall is adorned with a huge painting (from circa the 17th century if memory serves) depicting the Last Supper, with Jesus and the apostles drinking ayahuasca. Oh, and eating a roast guinea pig.

 

I meant skull caps and malas being not real human bone. A full skull is much more difficult to fake; those are usually made of plaster...

 

Jesus drinking ayahuasca?! Wow! lol

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Czermna_-_Chapel_of_Skulls.jpg

 

 

No ... no reason at all .... it was just a ...... .... whim ;)

 

 

 

Aside: A friend told me about this amazing old place she visited in Africa made from a strange marron russet coloured mud brick, She asked about it and was told the bricks were made with the earth of that land mixed with the blood of the invaders that tried to take it .

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What do you drink out of it, spring water.. blood??

 

Depends on the ritual or 'degree' .... poppy heads soaked in blood, Anhalonium lewenii , .... a nice little stew from your own gizzards and brain matter.

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tablier.jpg

 

 

Human bone bead apron ... some are made of human skin and bone.

 

Aside from magical implications one should consider the traditional form of burial in Tiibet, and due to its extreme location and isolation the need to be very good at 'recycling'.

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To say nothing of their intimate ties with the occultist Nazis.

 

(rapidly closing this particular can of worms. Slam.)

Edited by Taomeow
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Czermna_-_Chapel_of_Skulls.jpg

 

 

No ... no reason at all .... it was just a ...... .... whim ;)

 

 

 

Aside: A friend told me about this amazing old place she visited in Africa made from a strange marron russet coloured mud brick, She asked about it and was told the bricks were made with the earth of that land mixed with the blood of the invaders that tried to take it .

 

Ohhhh, building plans for my future off the grid home, thank you Nungali! ;).

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" We like to point out that everyone has one, ours are just a bit more exposed! " :D

 

 

Hmmmmm .... maybe the 'its illegal in your country' is a sales pitch for the replica yak bone stuff <_<

Edited by Nungali
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