Murderabilia
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Murderabilia are collectibles from, by, or about murders, murderers, or other violent crimes.
This is a very controversial area of the collecting world, as evidenced by the public backlash to the idea of selling and/or profiting from violent crimes. Many jurisdictions have laws prohibiting, or restricting such actions.
An example of controversy arising from the sale of murderabilia is when the artwork of a serial killer was sold online in Massachusetts. Lawmakers proposed to block the activity, setting off a debate on free speech rights of prisoners.[1]
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[edit] Origin
The murderabilia market was invented by Crime & Criminals, a dealer catalog that debuted in 1993.[citation needed] The market is now spread among two websites: Daisy Seven and Murder Auction, with Daisy Seven being the largest dealer of crime collectibles. Unique to Daisy Seven is a strict policy against the payment of monies to killers for murderabilia.[citation needed]
[edit] Serial killer art
Serial Killer Art is normally defined as art work created by serial killers while in prison.
Often, this process of painting is used as a therapy device (see art therapy), or for further understanding a particularly disturbed psyche, while in other instances it is purely a method of time spanning entertainment for imprisoned individuals. The artists usually vary dramatically in skill and themes covered.
John Wayne Gacy, Richard Ramirez, and Henry Lee Lucas are a few of the better known American serial killer artists. Perry Smith, the mass murderer known from Truman Capote's famous nonfiction work In Cold Blood, was also a prolific artist.
Collectors typically must have direct contact to obtain and authenticate this art. The actual pieces can sell for large sums of money depending on the individual artist, and their notoriety through serial killing.
Serial killer art need not always be taken seriously. In his autobiography "Final Truth", serial killer Donald Gaskins confesses making carbon copies of Disney characters from magazines and selling them through his lawyer just to gain some money.
