For children across North America, October 31st is one of the most anticipated dates on the calendar behind Christmas Day and their own birthday. There aren’t many days of the year where little ones can look forward to collecting more candy than they know what to do with, and then hope to sneak as much of it into their bellies as possible before their parents get wise to what’s going on. While Halloween has become a time of festive celebration, ghosts and ghouls, and candy, the original intent behind the celebration of All Hallows’ Eve was to celebrate the dead over a three-day observance of the faithfully departed.
In Central and South American cultures, the Halloween period maintains its commemorative mood in the form of Die de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. While several mints have produced Dia de los Muertos products in the past, there’s a brand-new silver option out there for you in 2017 that brings the splendor of the sugar skull together with a collectible piece. Join us in taking a look at the 15 oz Silver Skull of the Dead from Heads or Tails Coin Company!
The 15 oz Silver Skull
The new 15 oz Silver Skull of the Dead features all of the intricacy and attention to detail you expect in a silver product from HotCo. These skulls have HotCo’s proprietary antique finish, which is vital to the appeal of this particular product. Sugar skulls are used during celebrations of Dia de Los Muertos to commemorate the dearly departed and are often ornately decorated by family members to be left at the gravestone of their loved one. Each one of these silver skulls has ornate décor throughout the skull features, from the cranium through the cheekbones and down across the jawline.
HotCo’s proprietary antique polish helps to bring out the intricate lines and facets of the details, while also lending a warm, subtle hue to the overall appearance. Antique finishes also provide heirloom quality to this piece, so it can shine for years in your personal collection or that of a family member if given as a gift. The highlights of this particular product include:
- Protective box with Certificate of Authenticity for shipping!
- Limited casting of only 1,000 statues!
- Contains 15 Troy oz of actual silver content.
With purchase of this 15 oz Silver Skull of the Dead, you’ll receive your product inside of a protective box. Included with every statue is an individually numbered Certificate of Authenticity. On the bottom of each skull you’ll find the purity of the silver laser-etched, as well as its individual serial number which aligns with the COA.
Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos
What we know today as Halloween is actually referred to as All Hallows’ Eve among practitioners of the Catholic faith. Spanish and Italian missionaries in Central America brought Catholicism to much of Central and South America. The celebration of Halloween is rooted in the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, with October 31st serving as All Hallows’ Eve. It is said that on midnight of October 31st, the gates of heaven are opened for the spirits of children to be reunited with their family in this world for 24 hours. On November 2nd, the spirits of adults then come down to enjoy the festivities as well.
Dia de Los Muertos is the particular form the celebration takes in Central and South America. Originally, people in this region of the world celebrated the holiday similar to Western Christians, but did so at the beginning of summer. With Spanish colonization and increase influence from Western Christianity, Dia de Los Muertos became associated with Allhallowtide and moved to the end of fall where it is now celebrated.
The sugar skull, as depicted in this 15 oz Silver Skull of the Dead, is a central piece of the Mexican celebration of Dia de los Muertos. Its history is rooted in the 17th century when Italian missionaries brought sugar to the New World. In Palermo, Italy, sugar art was regularly used to create little lambs and angels to adorn the sides of alters in Catholic churches.
By the 18th century, Mexico had an abundance of sugar produced naturally throughout the region. However, most communities were far too poor to purchase fancy, imported decorations for their Catholic churches. Displaying ingenuity, Mexican people developed their own forms of sugar art to adorn churches and use in religious festivals. Clay molded sugar figures of angels, sheep, and the sugar skull began appearing during the Spanish colonial period of the 18th century.
Among those items, the sugar skull took on a large roll. The sugar skull was easy and affordable for people to make, and it was representative of a departed soul. Family members would create a sugar skull during the Dia de los Muertos celebrations with the name of the departed soul on the forehead. It was then placed on the home ofrenda or gravestone to honor the return of that person’s spirit on the day of celebration.
Sugar skulls, like these 15 oz Silver Skull of the Dead pieces from HotCo, were labor intensive to make and produced in small batches. The original sugar skulls featured intricate designs fabricated by artisans. The only difference between an actual sugar skull and this product is the sweet taste of the celebratory piece!
Background on HotCo
Heads or Tales Coin Company, also known as HotCo, brings the age-old art of sculpting to life in a way that other modern mints and refineries cannot accomplish. These second generation mint masters produce a wide variety of silver bullion products ranging from coins and rounds to silver statues and other products like the 15 oz Silver Skull of the Dead piece. All HotCo products have extremely limited mintage/casting figures and are produced with precise attention to detail throughout the process.
Get Yours from JM Bullion
All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints’ Day are just around the corner, and now’s the perfect time to add this new piece to your collectible memorabilia. JM Bullion is proud to carry a diverse selection of items for those buying silver. We encourage all of our readers to keep following our blog each week and to connect with us on Facebook. There you can join the conversation, find out the latest precious metals news, and find out exactly when our new blog posts go live. Don’t forget you can also download the JM Bullion app from Google Play and the App Store to find out about our sale products and track gold and silver prices live!
