>>Unfortunately...no.  When we redesigned The Barnum Museum in the late '80s,
>>we would have given plenty for the Fejee Mermaid; but it had been gone for
>>more than a century.  (However, reports that it is indeed in Bridgeport may
>>offer some clue as to how fakes, forgeries, and rumors get their "legs.")
>
>About 15 years ago, when touring the collections storage area of the
>Peabody Museum at Harvard University, I saw a construct that the curator
>said was Barnum's Fejee Mermaid. If you are trying to locate it, you might
>want to try there.
>
>Susan Wageman
>Grants and Research Manager             [log in to unmask]
>The Tech Museum of Innovation           (408) 279-7178
>145 West San Carlos Street              fax (408) 279-7149
>San Jose, CA  95113  USA                http://www.thetech.org

They were pretty common items in the mid 1800s.  Apparently, Japanese
fishermen would make these beasts out of monkey and fish parts and sell
them to Western sailors as curiosities.  The Peabody has a couple, if
memory serves.  I also recall seeing one in Baltimore at the late, great
Peale Museum.

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Edward Rodley            email:           [log in to unmask]

Exhibit Planner             ph:           617.589.0296
Museum of Science,         fax:           617.742.2246
Boston, MA
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