| Type | Private Corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | June 1986[1] |
| Headquarters | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Jay Villemarette(President) |
| Products | Real and replica skulls and skeletons. |
| Website | www.skullsunlimited.com |
Skulls Unlimited International, Inc. is a commercial supplier of osteological specimens located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Skulls Unlimited provides a skull cleaning service, using dermestid beetles to strip the flesh from skulls and skeletons.[2] Skulls Unlimited processes approximately 25,000 skull specimens per year.[3]
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In the summer of 1986, Villemarette found himself out of work after being laid off from his auto body job and started considering the possibility of working full-time with skulls. Skulls Unlimited International was established in June 1986, by owner, Jay Villemarette.[1] His fascination with skulls and bones began when he was seven years old, after he found a dog skull in the woods near his home. His fascination with the skull, along with encouragement from his father,[4][5] led Villemarette to begin collecting other animal skulls. After graduating from high school, he collected and sold skulls in his spare [6]time while working as an auto body technician. As sales grew, Villemarette and his wife Kim began to clean skulls in their kitchen.[5]
After relocating to a retail location for his business in 1992, Villemarette was able to employ his first full time employees Skulls Unlimited remained at their South Shields address until June 2000, when they expanded into a custom built facility in Oklahoma City.
In 2004, Skulls Unlimited started construction on a new 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) building that now house's Skulls Unlimited's corporate offices and The Museum of Osteology. The museum opened to the public on October 1, 2010 and features thousands of skull and skeletal specimens,[7] focusing on the form and function of the skeletal system. The museum serves as an educational experience, with the hopes that through education, an appreciation of the natural world will ultimately lead to conservation for the future.[3]