Objekt 2127
Tools of an executioner
Description
Corporal punishment was long common practice in the administration of justice. Crimes such as murder, secret child birth, infanticide, sorcery, sexual offences, theft, arson or rioting were punished by death. It was the executioner’s job to carry out the punishments and execute the death penalty. In this cabinet he stored his tools: a sword, barber’s scissors, branding irons, and the hangman’s noose. The last execution in Basel was carried out in 1819. The death penalty itself was abolished in 1872.
Object description
Cabinet of the Basel executioner with executioner’s sword, noose and utensils
Basel, 15th–18th century
various materials
old inventory
Inv. 1921.1261., Inv. 1906.2934., Inv. 1921.1260., Inv. 1906.2937.