Catalogue Number
NMLH.1992.1074
Object Name
Death Mask
Title
THOMAS PAINE
Place
England & UK
People
Paine, Thomas
Date
1809
Description
The Strange Case of Tom Paine's Body
Here is Paine's death mask . When he died in 1809 Paine was buried in America. Ten years later William Cobbett retrieved the body, intending to bring it home. This is the last that was seen of it.
One story states that Cobbett lost it on the journey from America (he may have left it in a pub). Another has it that Cobbett left the bones in his attic and they were sold by Cobbett's son after his father's death. In the 1930s a woman claimed she had Paine's jawbone and in the 1980s an Australian businessman claimed to have his skull.
(OSP script)
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