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9.5" LiDiex Glassworks Skull Fortune Teller Table Low Voltage Lamp Shade, circa 1957 - The Voodoo Estate

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Price:
$109.90
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Condition:
Used
Weight:
1,792.00 Grams
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Product Description

 


 
~ Voodoo Priestess Estate ~ ©
 
9.5" LiDiex Glassworks Skull
 Fortune Teller Table, Low Voltage Lamp Shade, circa 1957
 
~!~  

 

This is another of our very long listings with an abundant text and 7 photographs.

So please sit back and read the write-up through.  If you have come this far, we feel you will find it was worth the wait.

Nearly twenty-four years have now passed since we were called to do an estate that had been closed up for seventeen years!

The Voodoo Estate!
 
This type of call usually gets us excited as they are a treasure trove.  Located here in Florida, there was no electricity or running water so we rigged our own lighting and in we went.  If you have ever seen the Adams Family you will have some idea as to what we were greeted with!  Then the attorney handling the liquidation gave us some background. The estate had belonged to an alleged powerful Voodoo Priestess/JooJoo Exorcist, grand daughter of a Marie Laveau and favored daughter of a Marie Glapion.
 
These names meant nothing to us, but the late night talk of Voodoo and exorcism in the old mansion was enough for us to spend the night in a hotel and return in the morning to assess the estate.  The rest is history. 
 
Our research has shown that this woman was what she claimed and was indeed descended from a long line of well known Vodoun family originating in New Orleans in the early 1800's.
 
We were pretty unnerved by this until we discovered they were also devout Catholics!  Although I have to admit this was unlike any Catholic home we have ever been in and some of the items found inside were a little more than disturbing.
 
There was no feeling of dread or unwelcome in the mansion, however there was quite a bit of contraband and other items we can or will not sell here.
 
This is one of a few pieces from this estate we will be listing this week, so check our other posting's!
 
We will, upon the new guardian's request, issue a named Letter of Authenticity with each lot from this estate, complying with the terms set forth to us by the estate's attorney.

~!~

Some Back Story

Most of the glass skulls recovered from this estate were found carefully packed and stored in the carriage house loft, and these were no exceptions.  Although her journals and inventory tell us they were manufactured by the LiDiex Glassworks, they are not their alchemic formula of silicate glass using minerals and gemstones that were actually made for use as outdoor lamp post shades and were used on many of the outdoor pole lamps that lined the paths of the grounds of this estate, which by the time we got there, all of the ones that were pole mounted were missing or broken.
 
Four of these were made as replacements duplicating the pair of glass skull lamp shades used on a fortune teller's boardwalk table from the Jacksonville, Florida amusement pier.  The table was purchased in 1956 with the intention of restoring it.  A project started and never completed as indicated by it's condition when we found it in the carriage house.  Unfortunately it was one of the first pieces we sold on the first day of the open air sale nearly twenty-four years ago.

With nothing more to go on due to selling the table, in addition to missing and damaged ledgers, our own research revealed

~!~
 
LiDiex Glass Works

The research involved in this estate provides continuous fascination.  The founder of the LiDiex Glass Works, is known to us as the 1898 LiDiex, but to most, he was known only as "LiDiex."  A 5th. generation descendant of the original Man Known Only as "LiDiex" to these shores as a survivor and saboteur of the slave Ship Henrietta Marie in 1701.  He then found his way to New Orleans to meet with the parents of the then infant grandmother of our priestess, Marie Laveau.
 
That original LiDiex was a wood carver and furniture maker as were most of his descendants.  This is another case of the multi-generational relationships we have encountered with this family as the LiDiex all had strong associations with these women.  Although a close practitioner and believed to be father to one of her children, the 1898 LiDiex was most noted for his glassmaking after his return to New Orleans from an extended stay in Europe where he studied the glassmaking techniques of Bohemia and Murano.  He continued making glass for her and her followers up to the time of his demise in 1968.
 
Late journals show him to be one of her chief enforcers, a "Zuvembie" leader, and refer to him as, “a skilled sorcerer, tactician, warrior and artist" who was deeply involved in her works.
 
~!~
 
Their glass works provided an additional source of income to this estate and a primary source of income for numerous staff members.  Their Glassworks is attributed with their, “alchemic glass” which we have noted as being a consistent source of unexplained paranormal activity as those of you who follow the listings from this estate already know.

According to her journal entries these skull lamp shades were made from recycled, old mostly clear glass bottles using their formulas without using silicate sands.

~!~
 
The Skull

 

These are being offered individually as a single glass skull that measures approximately 9.5" x 9" x 7" and weighs 4 lbs.

The base is made to fit over an obsolete German 15 watt oblong bulb fixture.

It is marked, "LiDiex 1957", which is noted as being "done in an intoxicated hand."

We had no luck in identifying any fortune teller who had set up shop on the Jacksonville boardwalk, we did find a 2021 Facebook post titled; Florida: A History In Pictures which depicts an aunt and grandmother in the 1940'a at the entertainment boardwalk on Jacksonville Beach. and goes on to state, "The boardwalk featured dance pavilions, penny arcades, ferris wheels, a bowling alley, billiards hall, restaurants, fortune tellers, and many other typical boardwalk attractions until its slow decline into the 1970's.

This is certainly an unusual vintage glass skull lamp shade with an extraordinary provenance that is much nicer than the photographs are able to depict.  

~!~
 
We have been contacted and visited by a number of people who were interested in the items from this estate since our first batch was listed.  Among the buyers have been known psychics and practitioners.  More than one, after adorning themselves or handling their purchase, stated "this is a woman of power!"  Many of our customers, after receiving items from this estate have reported dream contacts and other unexplained phenomenon.
 
Unusual, authentic Voodoo Priestess Estate piece and at a bargain price!
 
This is truly a rare opportunity to own anything with attributes to this estate.  The majority of this estate is now gone.  The pieces offered and sold here are some of the few remaining pieces that will ever be offered to the public.
 
Nice addition to any collection, altar, wardrobe or decor, displays really well.
 
Really doesn't get any better than this.
 
There are 7 photographs below to tell the rest of this tale.
 
Buyer to pay $0.00 for Insured Ground Shipping with Tracking, handling and lagniappe.
 
Rest assured your order will be carefully packed to withstand the onslaught of the most deranged of parcel carriers.
 
 

International Buyers, Please email us for a Shipping Quote.

 Payment is due at listing end.

Check our other posting's and sign up for our newsletter as new items are usually listed daily.

©Text and Photos Copyright 2001-2025 bushidobuce, all rights reserved.

~!~ 

Background props are not part of the deal, but you knew that already.

~!~
 

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