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Coffin collar

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From Kingskettle, Fife

Coffin collar
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A coffin collar was used to prevent grave robbers from stealing corpses. It was fixed round the neck of a corpse and bolted to the bottom of a coffin. This picture shows the back of a collar from Kingskettle in Fife. The collar dates from around 1820.

The iron collar is fixed to a piece of wood.

There was a widespread fear of grave robbers in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The demand for corpses was created by advances in the study of anatomy. Corpses were stolen and sold for dissection.

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