Cy*Burr // spring 2004

Inside their tall showroom, Tom is sitting on a large, plush leather couch. Overhead, a stack of gigantic books frame the window and two massive buffalo heads are the book ends. Tom pulls out a book of photos and excitedly turns to a snapshot of him and a FedEx delivery woman posing on his driveway, grinning and holding the head and skin of a dead American alligator.

“What’s her name?” He asks of the smiling delivery woman. “I always forget.”

“George Ann,” Vivian says.

Tom bought the skin for about $800 on eBay. The delivery woman, who brought the heavy box to their house, asked him what was inside. He told her they’d find out together, and they opened it and took a picture to remember the occasion.

Tom wants to mount the reptile and pose it with references to Florida’s Seminole Indians, who long ago battled the creature. It will be about a two-year project he will enter in taxidermy contests.

“It’d be kind of a neat tribute to the Indians,” he adds.

Over the years, people have come to the shop asking for a variety of odd things mounted, Tom says. But there are some things they refuse.

“I don’t do dogs, I don’t do cats,” Tom says, explaining that with the molds they use, it’s impossible to recreate such dear friends exactly. The couple won’t mount any “loved ones.”

“That was your best friend for 13 years,” Tom explains.

While the couple has won several awards, one of their favorite winners is contained in a most unassuming container. Inside a wooden and glass case in the corner of the room is the couple’s “frog bar.” It’s just like a human tavern, dimly lighted and festive with bar stools and a pool table – but it’s for frogs. The amphibians take relaxed drinks, and one biker frog, modeled after a family friend, sprawls across a table drunkenly. It was voted “People’s Choice” twice by the attendees of taxidermy shows.

“The actual people would go there and decide what they liked best,” Vivian says proudly.

The quality of a showroom is important, Tom stresses from inside his own finely crafted room. For a taxidermist, the showroom sells people on the product, and it allows customers to see if they like the Edsalls’ style.

“They can judge for themselves because it’s an art,” Tom says.