Charm

Date1870-1916

MediumMetal, organic

DimensionsObject/Work: 75 x 50 mm

ClassificationsReligious/Ritual Equipment

Credit Line12/03/2022 - Currenlty on display at SHC in Lovett Case - JGB

Terms

Object numberC05275

DescriptionCow's heart stuck with pins and nails. Used by a dairyman as a talisman against a man he believed had put a curse on his cows.

"A dairyman from Bethnal Green performed one of the most spectacular pieces of magic that Lovett came across. He had a quarrel with a man and then became convinced that he had put a spell on his cows. Sure enough two of the cows died and so the dairyman went to see a 'wise woman'. Acting on her instructions, he took the heart of one of the dead cows, stuck pins and nails into it, and hung it up in the chimney of the house. When the man who was supposed to have bewitched the cows heard of this he became frightened and came to the dairyman to make reparations admitting that he had poisoned the cows with yew leaves."

On View

Not on view

Collections