Johnny Depp's longtime friend and tattoo artist left a jarred fetus in a Greenwich Village safe deposit box for more than 15 years.
The pickled remains were only discovered when workers at LaGuardia Place bank found the jar in the abandoned box on Wednesday, during a move to new offices.
'It's an old antique medical specimen,' famed New York tattoo artist Jonathan Shaw told The New York Post.
Famed New York tattoo artist Jonathan Shaw (left) who carried out most of Johnny Depp's inkings, left a fetus in jar in a Greenwich Village safe deposit box for more than 15 years (Johnny Depp at the back along with Iggy Pop to the right)
'It's in a jar. The old-time carnies would call them pickled punks. Now everything's so f**king politically correct. You can't have anything.'
Shaw was contacted by police after the fetus was discovered. The artist told them he had bought it at a Manhattan flea market in the 1970s or 1980s.
He explained that he put the item in storage and forgot all about it, eventually moving to California.
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ShareAfterwards he said he had not seen the contents of the box for more than 15 years since moving to Beverly Hills.
Shaw said that despite knowing the bank was moving, he had told the manager to take whatever belongings he had in safe No. 625 and transfer them to his local branch.
'I guess they opened the box and they freaked out,' he said. 'I don't collect that kind of stuff anymore. I got rid of the shrunken heads.'
'It's in a jar. The old-time carnies would call them pickled punks. Now everything's so f–king politically correct. You can't have anything'. Afterwards he said he had not seen the contents of the box for more than 15 years since moving to Beverly Hills
Discussing his most famous client, Shaw said he was once walking with Depp around the flea market when he was approached to buy a bag of human fingers.
Adding that he would often bump into Andy Warhol in the 1970s and early 1980s before his death.
No criminality is suspected but the New York City medical examiner will examine the jar's contents.
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