Someone was looking for ancient dildos to make a drawing when they found something that looked like it had come from a collection of strange objects: a carved bone shaped like a phallus, covered in details and inscriptions.
And the most curious thing is that it may have been used as an ancient dildo.
The piece is cataloged as a “carved bone sculpture or dildo”, from India and dating to the 19th century. It is approximately 17,5 centimeters long and bears inscriptions in Sanskrit. It was being sold for 1.800 euros, about US$2.100.
The seller, however, does not claim that it was definitely a sex toy. The description itself leaves open the possibility that it was a phallic sculpture, so its true function has not been completely determined.
The piece also does not appear to have been made in an improvised manner. It is carefully carved and retains details that show the work done on the bone, although it has some cracks, small dents, wear, and parts of the inscriptions that have been erased over time.
And here is where the interesting part comes in: phallic representations have a long history in different Asian cultures and did not always have an exclusively sexual meaning.
The phallus could appear as a symbol of fertility, power, creation, or protection, depending on the tradition and context. That is why looking at a penis-shaped object and automatically assuming it was a sex toy can be just as misleading as assuming it was solely a religious piece.
In the case of this specific object, there is not enough information to know for certain what it was created for.
That has not stopped the internet from already having a much funnier answer.
The post that made it go viral prompted comments from people surprised by the quality of the carving and others who claimed they had learned in anthropology that phallic objects could serve symbolic or ritual functions in addition to sexual ones.
But the story took one final turn: the piece was eventually sold. After appearing on the market as a possible phallic sculpture or ancient sex toy, it found a buyer willing to take it home.
Thus, an object carved more than a century ago went from being a forgotten curiosity to becoming a piece that sparked thousands of comments online.
And although we still do not know for certain whether it was ever used as a dildo, one thing has been proven: someone saw this strange penis-shaped bone and thought it was worth buying.