does anyone know the origin of these two skull designs?

[cragdw]

what is the skull / mortarboard (graduation cap) / book and pipe tattoo from? any origin?

and what is the butterfly with the skull as a body? kinda like on the cover of Silence of the Lambs.

[hogg]

The skull and mortarboard is sometimes called "The Scholarly Skull." I wanna say it's an old Owen Jensen flash design, but I'm probably wrong. I got one from Mike Wilson last year. Like most of his tattoos, it is perfect (and I am lucky).

[Mel Noir]

Hmm, I'm not too sure what you mean about the silence of the lambs thing- do you mean the actual moth in the poster, or the tattoos some people have where a butterfly has a human skull for a head? If it's the moth in the poster for Silence of the Lambs, look really closely at it- the skull is actually a picture of naked wimmins!

[MsRad]

the moth from silence of the lambs is the death head moth. not sure where the actual tattoo design for a skull with butterfly wings came from.

[mario desa]

most americana designs have either a military origin, popular culture (comics, actresses, toys, etc.) origin, or come from victorian scrapbook designs.and of course, some where just kind of invented, from the sources mentioned above. i know this doesn't answer your question, but it's a place to start.

[irezumi]

from Lil Dave a few years ago when he was still at Inksmith.

kind of a shitty pic. really damn difficult to get a picture of the back of your own knee.

post yours Hoggy

[hogg]

Also hard to get a pic of a tattoo that wraps around your shin/top of your foot, but here goes:

Excuse the bloody teeth.

[Shannon Shirley]

very cool, Macbeth? Im guessing, you read Shakespear? Hell i don't know,ask chuck. cw eldrigde , he's researched it all. i first met him in 89' and he knew it all back then. BTW we need him here. I havent figured out how to contact him lately.

[sboyer]

calling chuck at the tattoo archive is the best way to contact him.

[The Hyena]

I ran into a small inkwell that was a "scholarly skull" last week from the late 1700's in an antique shop. Pipe, book, and mortarboard. Shit looked just like a piece of flash, was the size of a baseball, but it cost 900 bucks.

[irezumi]

you should change your location status Ron. you dont live in this damn oppressive heat any more.

[The Hyena]

Ha! Will do.

[reaperz]

Everyone always asks me about my winged skull tattoo and if I'm in a biker gang. People don't seem to realize how far back this symbols go. Long before bikers started using them.