The listing, GREAT COSTUME ADDITION Doctor Plague Mask Steampunk AntiqueStyle Bronze Tone Skull Bird Flower Charm has ended.
brand new without tags Pendant38mm never worn zinc alloy. Gl and happy bidding, No rude comments
some history...
Plague Mask Facts:
Bird's beak shaped face mask worn by Plague Doctors initially from the Black Death.
Possibly acted like a primitive gas mask.
Common belief at the time that the plague was spread by birds and possibly that the mask would draw the disease away from the suffer.
Contained red glass eye pieces which may have helped to protect the plague doctor from evil influences.
The beak of the mask usually contained strongly aromatic herbs and spices.
These additions to the beak may have helped reduce bad odours - terrible stench of unburied corpses and fluids from ill plague patients ie buboes etc.
Some have suggested that the bird like appearance of the masks may have led to the origin of the term 'Quack' for medical practitioners (most likely wrong).