Cast Iron Nautical Mermaid Bottle Opener

BOTTLE OPENER, that is a cast iron mermaid with painted details. The opener measures 8 1/4 inches tall and 2 3/4 inches wide. Tales of mermaids are nearly universal. The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria around 1000 B.C. According to legend, Atargatis, the mother of the Assyrian queen Semiramis, was a goddess who loved a mortal shepherd and in the process killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine nature. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid - human above the waist, fish below. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo, where she was often conflated with Aphrodite.

Click here to see a different Mermaid bottle opener we have in our Soda Fountain category.