M0000683: Amulet hollow glass walking stick

Previous title, replaced May 2020: Amulet hollow glass walking stick.

Photograph of a hollow glass walking stick filled with coloured sweets. It would have been hung on a cottage wall and used as an amulet against witches: a witch, being enticed to stop and count the sweets, would be kept occupied until dawn when her power for mischief working would be gone. The item was previously part of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum but is not held by Wellcome Collection.

01 January 1930

1 photograph glass plate negative; 12 x 16.5 cm

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2020.

This item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.