Yale's mysterious Skull and Bones society, hit along with everyone else by the recession, is going on the auction block. The secretive society is planning to auction off its namesake skull, which was turned into the society's ballot box.
Skull and Bones is an elite society which was founded in 1832. It closely guards the names of its members, or at least, it has prior to the early 1970s. Prior to that time, the group published an annual roster.
Members are known as Bonesmen. Publicly known Bonesmen include President William Howard Taft, both presidents Bush, Sen. John Kerry, and author and commentator William F. Buckley Jr.
No eBay for the Skull and Bones Society. Rather, they are using the auction house Christie's. Christie's estimates the skull will sell for $10,000 to $20,000. The auction is scheduled for Jan. 22. Secret as the society itself is, Christie’s has agreed to keep the seller's name a secret. On Monday, it described the person only as a European art collector.
The skull is believed to have been used during voting at the famous society's meetings. It is fitted with a hinged flap, as a ballot box would need to be.
The skull is believed to have been owned by Edward T. Owen. He graduated from Yale in 1872 and went to become professor of French and linguistics at the University of Wisconsin.
As a sort of letter of authenticity, the skull is being sold with a black book, inscribed with Owen's name, the year 1872 and the numeral 322, which is a reference to the Skull and Bones society's year of inception and to the death of the orator Demosthenes in 322 B.C. It contains the names and photographs of about 50 Bonesmen.
The Skull and Bones Society, despite being a secret society, has been referenced in popular media quite often. In fact, on "Family Guy," Lois Griffin's father, Carter Pewterschmidt, is a member of the Skull and Bones Society.
Written by Michael Santo
HULIQ.com
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