May 23, 2011
Charles Dickens’ letter opener was made from the paw of his pet cat
From The New York Times:
And his letter opener fully merits the adjective “Dickensian,” with its quirky peculiarity and demonstrative eccentricity: the handle is made from the paw of Dickens’s pet cat Bob, and the blade is engraved “C. D. In Memory of Bob 1862,” the year of the cat’s death.
(via Book of Joe)
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I adore my pets and everything, but that is just weird and gross.
Agreed
poor old Bob.
This actually wasn’t that unusual for Victorian times. People would often keep physical mementos of loved ones who passed on. Victorian ladies would have lockets or brooches made of woven or braided hair of a loved one who had died. And taxidermy was a big business for the upper class to preserve their faithful pets.
Hair is not so bad. I could see a snip of fur from a pet, but I equate taking the whole paw with chopping off a loved one’s hand to keep. Just saying.
When Scruffy died of a tumor, I wished I could have memorialized him. This would have been one very cool way to do it. Dickens was a classic!
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!
Don’t you mean, ‘Mewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!’ ?
I always tell Hobbes that I’m going to make a bathroom rug out of him when he dies. Way less creepy than Mr. Dickens.
I wonder… was this a memorial to the cat’s death, or the cause of the cat’s death?
You don’t think it could be both?
creepy.
Awesome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_Uses_for_a_Dead_Cat
gonna do that for my ferret, make a “Lucky Rub” ferrets feet keychain, what do ya’ll think?
When I was a kid, and I’m (only) 44, it was common to see rabbit’s feet keychains in souvenir stores all over the USA at amusement parks and other tourist traps. Granted, they weren’t someones beloved pet, but still…it’s not that far off.
I wouldn’t care to do this with my pet but those who express disgust/outrage, etc., have missed an opportunity to appreciate ways that our orientation to death and to bodies has changed since Dickens’ time. We’re not superior for pushing death away from us, perhaps merely more squeamish. In some parts of the world people still personally wash and dress the bodies of their dead family members and take comfort from this. I’ve held more than one pet as she or he died and stroked their paws in farewell before burying them. Other people send them off to be euthanized and incinerated. Neither way is right or wrong. I think it’s touching that Dickens loved his cat Bob so much that he literally held on to a piece of his pet. And like Jay, above, I also had a lucky rabbit’s foot keychain when I was a kid. Considering that most of us wear leather shoes and belts and actually eat all kinds of animals and animal parts and products (people eat hotdogs no matter what you put in them) I regard squeamishness to any particular practice regarding body parts as no more than an artifact of current cultural norms and prejudices.
Cool! Doubles as a back scratcher, too!