Bezoar Stone and Goa Stone Holders,

but what are Bezoar and Goa stones?

all photographs from the Met, from what I can make out both were highly prized by European nobility and monarchs, 

a bezoar stone is the aggregate of inedible or undigested material found in the GI tract, for many centuries, bezoars have been found in the digestive tracts of both humans and animals, and although bezoars are most commonly found in the stomach, they can be found anywhere in the GI tract, as it happens these gallstones are usually found in sheep, deer, antelopes and camels,

and holders were made for them, these stones were supposed to have been formed of the poison of serpents which had bitten the animal, combined with the matter produced to counteract it, the word ‘bezoar’ comes from the Persian for ‘antidote’, the above found here, 

and then there are Goa stones, 

if you think the name Goa is familiar, it is the same place you might have holidayed at, Goa in India, these stones were manufactured by Jesuits in the late seventeenth century, they were manmade versions of bezoars,

easier to make one than find one I guess! this one can be found here, thankfully nowadays no longer needed, but it is amazing to see the workmanship involved in making the holders.