Paxton Gate

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Paxton Gate San Francisco store Paxton Gate was once described as “Martha Stewart meets David Lynch." Our mission Now offering personal in-store appointments!
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Open for curbside shopping and pick-up of web orders 6 days a week 11 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Wednesdays. Book here: https://paxtongate.com/products/shopping-appointment?variant=35809676886169

🌾🍂🦇 Halloween is 12 days away, and if you still don’t have a costume, we pulled together a few nature-inspired looks fro...
10/19/2026

🌾🍂🦇 Halloween is 12 days away, and if you still don’t have a costume, we pulled together a few nature-inspired looks from our oddities. 🌛🪾🎃

Go carnivorous plant 🪰 with spiky chain earrings, a cicada wing necklace, and a pinned insect in your hair. Be an ancient siren 🌊 with a moon necklace, holding an ammonite and a crawfish in resin. Try a woodland creature 🦌 in a roebuck skull cap mount, wishbone necklace, and thorn cuff, or a mythical horned beast 🫎 wrapped in cowhide with a buffalo skull and statement necklace.

Wear it now, keep wearing it, or display it forever. Link in bio to explore, or come see us in store.

10/16/2026

Eye-dentify these! Our taxidermy eyes are online and in store now, just in time for Halloween. Each one is made from glass with a concave backing, and they’re great for crafting, jewelry making, spooky decor, or a last-minute costume (just stick them all over your face). Or glue them onto your friends’ belongings and convince them their water bottle is a Lovecraftian elder god.

10/13/2026

So you want to turn into Vivianite after you die? 💀

We answer one of the most popular questions from our viral Vivianite video: What causes this eerie blue-green mineral to form on human remains?

And if you’re into the beautiful and bizarre, we’ve got plenty of other spooky minerals waiting to be discovered.

Explore our collection at paxtongate.com

10/08/2026

Back in Victorian times, if you had a secret crush, you’d commission a miniature painting of just one of your eyes. They were called “Lover’s Eyes.” Your partner would hide it under their lapel or wear it as a brooch close to their heart so you could “look” at them all day.

10/06/2026

Oddities for a good cause 🥊 We brought a box of taxidermy and curiosities to support q***r wrestling in San Francisco. Our treasure boxes are coming to Paxton Gate soon.

10/02/2026

We could start this off by talking about how pretty these crystals are or their deep teal and navy hues but let’s be real. We all know where people know this mineral from. Vivianite is known to grow on corpses. This alone makes the mineral a legend amongst collectors and fans of the odd.

Vivianite forms under unusual conditions when a body is buried in a waterlogged, oxygen-poor environment rich in iron. Phosphate released from the decaying remains gradually combines with the iron and water, creating the mineral known as vivianite. Initially clear and colorless, it darkens into deep shades of blue when exposed to air, as the iron reacts with oxygen. Bacteria play a role in this process by dissolving iron from the soil and phosphate from the remains, while also guiding the growth of the striking blue crystals.

The earliest known example of vivianite forming on human remains dates back to the third millennium BC. This was discovered in Tomb 1 at the Filigosa necropolis in Macomer, Sardinia, within a Domus de Janas, a prehistoric rock-cut tomb. The exceptional preservation of the site allowed researchers to identify vivianite deposits on the bones, making it one of the oldest known occurrences of this mineral in Italy and the first evidence of its presence in a prehistoric context, long before the widespread use of iron.

The reputation of this mineral is really the thing of myths and honestly feels like something out of a fantasy story. We could definitely see a necromancer needing this as a reagent to weave a spell or raise a dragon from the earth. We could have also played too much World of Warcraft but that’s beside the point.

09/29/2026

The Atlas beetle (Chalcosoma atlas) is one of the largest rhinoceros beetles in the world. Native to Southeast Asia, males use their massive horns to battle rivals, and despite their intimidating look, they mostly feed on fruit and plant material.

09/26/2026

Yes, this is actually a beetle. 😳🪲

Meet the Harlequin Beetle (Acrocinus longimanus) a bizarre longhorn beetle native to the rainforests of Central and South America.

And those ridiculously long legs aren’t an accident: its name “longimanus” literally means “long-handed,” referring to the male’s extremely elongated front legs.

🌿 Its striking black-and-orange body is covered in intricate patterns, while its enormous antennae help it navigate its rainforest environment.

Even stranger? Its larvae develop inside decaying wood, helping break down plant material as they grow.

It genuinely looks like someone designed a beetle for a fantasy movie.

Would you pick this up if you found one in the wild? 👀

09/26/2026

🧚✨ A real-life fairy? Not quite…

Meet the Purple-Winged Grasshopper (Titanacris albipes), an incredible insect found in the rainforests of South America.

🌿 At rest, its green coloring helps it disappear among the leaves.

💜 But once it opens its wings, it reveals enormous flashes of vivid purple and violet, which is where things start looking a little magical.

Would you believe this was a grasshopper if you saw it flying past you?

09/24/2026

The process of diaphonization (dying dead animals) has also been known as “clearing and staining.” The animals are rendered transparent (the “clearing”) by bathing in a soup of trypsin, a digestive enzyme that slowly breaks down their flesh. They also soak in several batches of bone, muscle, or cartilage dyes (the “staining”), with alizarin red and alcian blue the most commonly used. The result is a visually striking display of anatomy.

Address

824 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA
94110

Opening Hours

Monday 11am - 7pm
Wednesday 11am - 7pm
Thursday 11am - 7pm
Friday 11am - 7pm
Saturday 11am - 7pm
Sunday 11am - 7pm

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