Stuffed Gators

Original article here.

Apparently, back in the early part of the 20th century, it was common to have a stuffed alligator as an umbrella stand. I searched the web for an image of such a thing, but could not find one. Maybe one of our clever WU-vies can.

But I did find the great feat of taxidermy seen below. I'm so sad the piece got auctioned before I could bid. As a fan of Pogo, I would have loved it.

Original auction here.

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 07, 2014
Category: Animals | Anthropomorphism | Comics | Twentieth Century

Comments

@Paul: So South, young man... stuffed baby crocks abound at Stuckey's and other roadside fruit stands.

Chuck ain't, quite, fully into deep XanTH but you may get him to run over to Kissimmee and pick you up some.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 11/07/14 at 10:15 AM

http://www.tellmewhereonearth.com/Web Pages/Gators/Gators_Page_4.htm

Posted by ges on 11/07/14 at 11:23 AM

Excellent page, GES. But your link seems broken: try this:

http://tinyurl.com/lgsyba3

Posted by Paul on 11/07/14 at 12:14 PM

You might try searching for "Wardian furniture" (and good luck getting Google to not keep changing it to "Edwardian"). Rowland Ward popularized stuffed animals as household accessories.

The only "alligator as ashtray" I could find was this:
http://howtospendit.ft.com/art/25363-taxidermy
(The main image is a bird under a dome, but clicking the second thumbnail beneath it brings up the gator.)

Posted by Phideaux on 11/07/14 at 01:28 PM

Do not underestimate the level of tastelessness in the general population. Dad's mother had some little figurines in the same vein. They were rats, I believe.

Posted by KDP on 11/07/14 at 03:53 PM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.