Ireland rallies to buy 'haunted' antique dildo from Victorian era

The "artifact" was described on the auction site as an "ivory companion". Photo / Getty Images

An antique dildo has been safely returned to Ireland, after a passionate crowd-funding mission.

In 2017, Shawna Scott who owns Sex Siopa, an online sex shop, was heartbroken to learn an international collector had purchased the dildo in an auction.

The ivory dildo, which is at least 130 years old, was believed to have been owned by a wealthy Anglo-Irish household.

It was described on the auction site as an "ivory companion", and is believed to have originated in China and but been brought back to Ireland as a gift from husband to wife.

"It made my heart sink when it was sold. It just seemed like such an important part of Irish sexual history," Scott told the Irish Times.

"Sometimes I think with Irish history, unless something is tied to the famine or 1916 it gets a little forgotten or re-prioritised."

Miraculously, two years later she found out the sex toy was being auctioned off again - but she couldn't afford to buy it on her own.

Even so, I don't have the extra cash necessary to purchase the ghost-ridden (in more ways than one) ivory sex toy, and I have zero clue as to how museum management works or if anywhere would take it. So I need help. Who can help me save this dildo?

— Sex Siopa (@SexSiopa) July 29, 2019

Scott took to Twitter to ask her followers near and far if they would be willing to contribute to buying the piece of Irish history back.

She only needed $1200 to win the auction, but by the time it started at 6pm she had
raised more $2000.

FOLKS! WE DID IT! WE WON THE DILDO FOR IRELAND!!!!!!! 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪

— Sex Siopa (@SexSiopa) July 29, 2019

Scott will now donate the artifact to a museum and says it's an incredible piece of history.

"I always get asked about how repressed we are in Ireland. I think we're much more liberal than we think we are."