The perfect Christmas present for Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Victorian kit containing Bible, pistol, stake and bottle of holy water designed to see off deadly bloodsuckers is set to fetch £4,000 at auction

Here’s a potential Christmas present you could really get your teeth into.

A Victorian ‘vampire slaying kit’ containing a wooden stake and Holy Water hidden inside a hollowed-out Bible is up for auction and could fetch £4,000.

The large leather-bound Cassell Bible only has a few pages inside which conceal a locked box holding tools to fight the living dead.

In one section is a pistol, a brass powder flask and a miniature telescope.

Another secret compartment holds a small Bible, crucifix, rosary beads, ‘Holy Water’, ecclesiastical candlesticks, brass hammer and stake.

A faint name on the lid of the case reads, ‘Miss I & F Willetts’. Its owner understands it used to belong to an American film actress.

The items in the kit date back to the 19th century but it was probably put together in the Bible in the early 20th century.

It is expected to sell for between £3,000 and £4,000 but could fetch far more when it goes under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers on December 9.

In one section of the unusual item is a pistol, a brass powder flask and a miniature telescope

The kit, housed in a wooden box with original key, holds a mix of mainly 19th century objects hidden away within a leather-bound Cassell Bible

A similar vampire kit owned by a former peer of the realm, Lord William Malcolm Hailey, recently sold for a total of £16,900 at auction.

Chris Kirkham, associate director of Hansons London, said: ‘Finds like this appeal to bidders all over the world.

‘The vampire-slaying kit is pure theatre, spooky and fascinating.

‘Examples, some older than others, emerge from time to time and they often spark major interest.

Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, with the vampire-slaying kit in his hands

‘Vampires, which are said to need human blood to survive, are enshrined in European folklore and embedded in superstition.

‘The publication of John Polidori’s The Vampyre in 1819 had a major impact and that was followed by Bram Stoker’s 1897 classic Dracula.

‘If the need arose to kill a vampire particular methods and tools were advised.

‘Items of religious significance, such as crucifixes and Bibles, were said to repel the monsters, hence their presence in the kits.

‘This example contains a composite collection of 19th century items.

‘In the 20th century, kits like this were created to sell as novelty items to horror fans.

‘They were particularly popular during the classic Gothic horror-film era.

‘Today these items are sought after for their novelty value and because the vampire myth is still extremely popular.

‘The fascination with all things dark and mysterious means vampires makes appearances in contemporary TV shows, films and literature. However, references to them go back more than 200 years.’

Source: Read Full Article