Written by David Leggett | 20th July 2018
The Fiji Mermaid
Made from the body and head of a young monkey attached to the back half of a fish, the ‘Fiji Mermaid’ was first presented to the public by the world famous P.T.Barnum in 1840’s New York. The story went that this marvellous creature was ‘caught’ by local fishermen off the coast of the Fiji Islands - then a place of wonder and mystery to the common man.
Modern-day replicas follow a similar template – an ape-like body (now usually fabricated) attached to an artificial fish, as can be seen in the image below. A number of examples are ‘skeletonised’ – with the mysterious creature reduced to its internal structure, like the one up for auction this week.
This fabulous antique 'Fiji Mermaid' skeleton in period glazed display case is featured in our Cabinet of Curiosities Taxidermy auction
A Fishy Tale
The truth behind this fantastic beast however is somewhat different. Fishermen in Japan and elsewhere in the Pacific had for many years been in the practice of stitching monkeys’ upper torsos onto the bodies of fish – reputedly used for ‘religious purposes’.
An American sea captain, Samuel Barrett Edes, bought Barnum's ‘mermaid’ from Japanese sailors in 1822 for the enormous sum of $6,000. It went on display in London for a period of time, but on Captain Edes’ death, his son took possession of the mermaid, later selling it on to the Boston Museum. In the summer of 1842 Barnum, an avid collector of curiosities, inspected the mermaid and agreed to ‘lease’ the item for the princely sum of $12.50 a week – the rest, as they say, is history.
Barnum’s establishment caught fire a number of times during the 1860s and the mermaid disappeared, allegedly destroyed in one of the fires.
But the magic of the creature had caught the general public’s attention and over the years many replicas were made, eventually finding their way around the globe. To this day, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! has one on display in its Piccadilly, London, showrooms, and there is even one to be found in the museum in Brighton on England’s South Coast.
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This week’s Cabinet of Curiosities Taxidermy auction, closing on Sunday 29th July includes a Fiji mermaid believed to have been ‘caught’ in the early 20th century, and cased appropriately. This curious delight from France has been appraised by our experts who estimate the value to be between €1,100 to €1,200.
Discover more mermaids | taxidermy
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