NEW YORK (AP) - Just in time for Halloween, a vampire-killing kit complete with a wooden stake and 10 silver bullets sold for $12,000 at auction Thursday.
The kit, a walnut box that also contained a crucifix, a pistol, a rosary and vessels for garlic powder and various serums, was bought by an anonymous phone bidder.
Vampire Killing Kit complete with wooden stake, crucifix, a rosary, vessels for garlic powder, pistol and 10 silver bullets sold as part of Sotheby's sale of 19th century furniture and decorative works of art in New York. (AP Photo/Sotheby's)
According to Sotheby's, some experts believe that such kits were commonly available to travelers in Eastern Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, while others think the kits were made in the early 20th century, possibly to cash in on interest in vampires sparked by the 1897 publication of Bram Stoker's "Dracula."
Elaine Whitmire, head of 19th century furniture for Sotheby's, said she believes the kit was assembled in the early 20th century and sold to travelers as a souvenir.
"My opinion is this is a memento that you bought while you were in Europe," she said. "I doubt it was cheap to buy."
A label on the kit says: "This box contains the items considered necessary for persons who travel into certain little known countries of Eastern Europe where the populace are plagued with a particular manifestation of evil known as Vampires."
The vampire killing kit was part of Sotheby's sale of 19th century furniture and decorative works of art.
The auction house did not identify the seller of the kit. The price includes Sotheby's auction house's commission.
I bet it was just a toy that parents bought their kids to play 'Vampire Hunter' with to get them to shut the heck up while traveling through the country. In another 200 years, the same thing will happen with the Harry Potter Vibrating Broom.