Leopard's tooth
Congo
c. 1900
Measurements
3 in x 3/4 in x 3/8 in
Materials
Bone
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.
Accession Number
2017.83
Inscription
“From Congo Free State in / South Africa, Collected by F. Lea 1900” is written in ink on one side of an attached label, and “Leopards tooth charm to / keep off rheumatism” on the other.
Condition Notes
The tooth has partially split in half. A large section is missing from the root end. A hole has been drilled in the opposite end.
Provenance
Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner
Comments
The large tooth, identified as being from a leopard and harvested in the Congo about 1900 is described as a talisman or charm to keep rheumatism at bay. The end of the tooth has a sizeable hole made it in to allow it to be suspended by some kind of cord.
Of interest, Mrs. Mary Warner, who wrote the label, identified F. Lea as the one who collected it. F. Lea has not been identified, although he/she may have been related to Preston Lea (1841-1916), who served as Governor of Delaware from 1905 to 1909. More germane, his second wife was Eliza Naudain Corbit (1861-1945), who was a step-niece of Mrs. Warner. Mrs. Warner (1848-1923) was a near contemporary of Preston Lea.
