- Title: USA: Centuries-old torture devices to be sold in New York
- Date: 12th May 2009
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARLAN ETTINGER, PRESIDENT OF GUERNSEYS, SAYING: "The chair behind me is known as a torture chair, designed to evoke pain from every direction that you are sitting at. There is no way you could shift your body to relieve the pain, and to make matters worse, it was said that heavy weights would be put on your feet so that your legs dangled downward and
- Embargoed: 27th May 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVAA8AH54WRKCD6GHGV1MAO8HGEV
- Story Text: A spiked chair, a tongue tearer, and executioners swords are among the centuries-old torture devices to be sold in New York.
A collection of torture devices used in the 16th and 17th centuries will be sold in New York City with some of the proceeds going to charities campaigning for a ban on torture.
Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's Auctions, said 252 devices, drawings, paintings, and a library of rare books devoted to torture could fetch several million dollars.
Ettinger says the collection originated in Germany, and was acquired by England's Earl of Shrewsbury in 1890. He says it was brought to the United States in 1893, and was eventually bought by a Norwegian Holocaust survivor living in the United States in the 1950s and is now being sold by heirs.
"What we know is the collection started being exhibited in the late 1700's. It would appear from the descriptions in this catalogue and other descriptions we have read that some indeed may stem from the 1500s," Ettinger said.
The collection includes items like executioners swords, heavy iron masks, a heavy iron whip, a metal gag, tongue tearers that could be used to punish blasphemers, a metal mitten and knuckle crushers.
"The ten-finger handscrew was designed to fit all ten of your fingers into the device at a single time and it would be tightened up so that all your fingers could be crushed simultaneously. The iron mitten was particularly gruesome in that it would be turned red hot, held in coals prior to being put on as a mitten, clearly burning all of the flesh you would conceivably have on your hand right off," Ettinger described.
Also in the collection, a gruesome chair with spikes.
"The chair behind me is known as a torture chair, designed to evoke pain from every direction that you are sitting at. There is no way you could shift your body to relieve the pain, and to make matters worse, it was said that heavy weights would be put on your feet so that your legs dangled downward and pressed against the front edge of the chair, causing even greater pain," he described.
Ettinger says the owner of the items decided to sell the collection because of all of the current news about torture in the United States and around the world.
In the United States, the torture debate has dominated headlines about whether some techniques used by U.S. authorities could be considered torture.
President Barack Obama's government has banned the used of waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique, saying it is torture. But Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, refused to describe the technique as torture or rule out its use.
Ettinger added the owner of the collection also wants to donate some of the proceeds from the sale to Amnesty International and other groups which campaign for a ban on torture.
So far, no auction date has been set. Ettinger hopes interest in the torture items will prompt someone to buy the entire collection.
"The hope would be to see the collection stay together. We haven't chosen a date for an auction yet, which leaves the door open to someone stepping forward, contacting us with an interest in acquiring the whole collection which certainly would keep it together. If it's been together hundreds of years there is something to be said about hoping it will stay that way," he said.
If no single buyer steps forward, the entire collection will be auctioned off piece by diabolical piece. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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