# Shrunked Heads, where to get one? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2006, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821 "2006-09-23T05:48:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hide\_Thine\_Eyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7c8e57/32.png) [@Hide\_Thine\_Eyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hide_Thine_Eyes)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/1 "2006-09-23T05:48:50Z")
For a long time I’ve wanted a genuine shrunked head or “tsantsa” as they are traditionally called by the Jivaro Indians. Not a reproduction made of goat skin. Ebay doesnt seem to sell them. I seem to be attracted to them for the disturbing yet intriguing nature. Thank for any help or leads!! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/2 "2006-09-23T05:55:35Z")
I don’t think you can buy a genuine one legally: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980731.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980731.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hide\_Thine\_Eyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7c8e57/32.png) [@Hide\_Thine\_Eyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hide_Thine_Eyes)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/3 "2006-09-23T06:03:36Z")
I was worried about the legalities of acquiring such a distinguishable item. I thought there would be a private collection that I could find for sale. I do own several Cival War items like genuine bullets and buttons and bayonet tips and even a chewed bullet they used to use in surgery. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/4 "2006-09-23T06:12:26Z")
Well, I certainly couldn’t afford one at [$16,800](http://www.museum-security.org/00/020.html#4). Dunno about you. ---
**Author:** ![Hide\_Thine\_Eyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7c8e57/32.png) [@Hide\_Thine\_Eyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hide_Thine_Eyes)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/5 "2006-09-23T06:18:57Z")
wow, I had no idea lol. I figured it would be no more expensive than my real shark in a jar was. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f17d59/32.png) [@Really\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Rex)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/6 "2006-09-23T11:26:36Z")
Have you tried the adverts by Google at the bottom of the posts? Human Shrunken Heads Authentic Human Shrunken Heads handmade in the Amazon by Jivaros. > **[Jivaro Shrunken Heads for Sale - World's Best Head (Tsantsa) Replicas and...](https://www.salangome.com/)** > > Salangome Exotic Imports - Amazonian Jivaro Shrunken Heads (Tsantsa) and Other Exotic Imports from Central and South America. ---
**Author:** ![Hide\_Thine\_Eyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7c8e57/32.png) [@Hide\_Thine\_Eyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hide_Thine_Eyes)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/7 "2006-09-23T19:20:02Z")
[QUOTE=Really\_Rex?] Have you tried the adverts by Google at the bottom of the posts? Human Shrunken Heads Authentic Human Shrunken Heads handmade in the Amazon by Jivaros. > **[Jivaro Shrunken Heads for Sale - World's Best Head (Tsantsa) Replicas and...](https://salangome.com)** > > Salangome Exotic Imports - Amazonian Jivaro Shrunken Heads (Tsantsa) and Other Exotic Imports from Central and South America [/QUOTE] Yes, those are $54 heads made of animal skin. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/8 "2006-09-24T02:04:29Z")
[QUOTE=Hide Thine Eyes] I do own several Cival War items like genuine bullets and buttons and bayonet tips and even a chewed bullet they used to use in surgery. [/QUOTE] You do realize, of course, that these items are not in the same category as the actual head of a human being? It is/should be very illegal to buy or sell a human head. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/9 "2006-09-24T02:11:36Z")
Everybody likes a little head now and then. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/10 "2006-09-24T02:19:00Z")
[Shrunken head reproductions](http://www.angelfire.com/id2/tower7/DonJuanHeads.htm), some using baboon skin, eww. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/11 "2006-09-24T03:12:02Z")
I have never been very worried about what happens to my body after death. For an immediate, upfront cash payment of $10,000, i will undertake to leave my head to you after my death. You are free to shrink it, kick it, or do whatever else you like with it. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/12 "2006-09-24T03:17:21Z")
I saw two shrunken human heads in a Children’s Museum when I was eleven. Even though I lived two hundred miles from those heads at the time and I never saw them again, they have “haunted” me for over fifty years. Strangely enough, although they are no longer on exhibit, I now live within a about four miles of where those pitiful specimens are stored. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/13 "2006-09-24T04:10:40Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] It is/should be very illegal to buy or sell a human head. [/QUOTE] Depends on how it was acquired. I don’t think it is generally illegal per se to buy or sell human body parts. [Human skulls and skeletons](http://www.einsteins-emporium.com/science/human-anatomy/sh229.htm) can legally be purchased. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/14 "2006-09-24T04:33:36Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] I don’t think you can buy a genuine one legally: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980731.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980731.html) [/QUOTE] While the article says “selling heads was made illegal,” I suspect this refers to newly made heads in Ecuador and Peru. I would be surprised if it were illegal to sell a legally-obtained, privately-owned shrunken head everywhere in the US. But as the article says, any authentic Jivaro-made head would cost thousands of dollars if it could be obtained at all. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/15 "2006-09-24T10:59:40Z")
[QUOTE=Peanuthead] Everybody likes a little head now and then. 😃 [/QUOTE] Sure, but then it’s anything but _shrunken._ ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/16 "2006-09-24T21:38:32Z")
Funny timing. My husband and I were strolling around an antique shop earlier today and they have what they are claiming to be a real human shrunken head for sale. [The shop’s website](http://www.gothicroseantiques.com/lab.html) with a picture of the shrunken head. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/17 "2006-09-25T19:39:35Z")
Of course you cant buy one … doh! You have to make your own! [http://www.head-hunter.com/prep.html](http://www.head-hunter.com/prep.html) ---
**Author:** ![CuriouslyCurious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CuriouslyCurious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuriouslyCurious)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/18 "2011-06-21T00:43:21Z")
I just saw on TV that the Obscura Antiques & Oddities shop in New York [www.obscuraantiques.com](http://www.obscuraantiques.com) just aquired an authentic human shrunken head, which: 1. They verified through Ronald Kuby (the reknown NY attorney), was legal for them to both purchase and sell. 2. They verified it was an authentic human head 3. They have it for sale in their store (along with a WHOLE BUNCH of cool, unusual, odd, weird, unique, rare items. As they only have one, since they are obviously rare, I am unsure how long they will have it for sale. Then again, I’m not certain about the demand for such items. I actually saw this information on the Science Channel’s show ‘Oddities’, Episode “Rock Star Embalmer”, after which, I did a search on google looking for information on “authentic shrunken head”, out of curiosity. Which is both how I found this message board, and this question. I figured that although this is somewhat of an old post, the topic was unique enough and rare enough, that I should respond, so that those who google this information topic in the future, can possibly find an answer and satisfy their curiosity. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/19 "2011-06-21T01:34:53Z")
I remember seeing one in the Field Museum in Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821/20 "2011-06-21T02:21:25Z")
Saw several, in various museums, in South America. And a couple for sale in antique stores. And fakes for sale on the streets. You just know the husband had to have one, proudly displayed under glass. Speaking of Obscura, I happened to click by on the channel and saw a guy selling a human skull encrusted with Buddhist symbols, stones, etc. Damn if the husband doesn’t actually own one of those! Proudly displayed between the shrunken head and a stone carving of a warriors head, from Timor. But I didn’t see either what they paid for it or what they’re selling it for, and you just know he’s dying for that tidbit of info. Anyone see the show? He bought it in Kathmandu, started bargaining the day before we were leaving on a bus to India. He is first, and foremost a hard bargainer/cheap prick. And the vendor didn’t seem to be moving on the price. He kept insisting he wouldn’t buy it unless he got his price. (I expressed no opinion on it, as to do so, would only encourage the boy!) I was praying, and praying that they were both hard headed enough to stand firm. The morning we were getting on the bus he was back at the shop, ‘Just one more try!’. He arrives, in the very nick of time, for the bus and damn, if he doesn’t have the thing! We carried it around India for 2 months. We had our bags xrayed numerous times, and yet no one spotted a human skull! I was just waiting for someone to take the thing away from him but, no. We mailed it home with a bunch of other stuff we’d bought, from Bangkok. I made sure he took pictures of it, confident it would never get through. But no one seemed to care and today it sits on the top shelf of the bookcase in the dining room. Y’know, with his other heads. I’m almost afraid to travel with him again, I mean, what next? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrunked-heads-where-to-get-one/373821.md?page=2)