1064

Collection of 8 pre-Columbian copper-arsenic tajaderas (several different types) from native America

Currency:USD Category:Artifacts / Non-wreck Artifacts Start Price:400.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,000.00 USD
Collection of 8 pre-Columbian copper-arsenic tajaderas (several different types) from native America
All items are genuine unless noted. Most shipwreck coins and artifacts come with a certificate of authenticity (please check the description for each item). By bidding in this auction you understand and agree to the Terms and Conditions posted here.
Collection of 8 pre-Columbian copper-arsenic tajaderas (several different types) from native American cultures in Mexico and South America. 276 grams total, from 1-1/2" to 6" in size. A decent representative lot of different types, including four heavy mushroom-shapes, three tiny hammer-shapes and one small triangular one, the last-mentioned from the northern Andes in South America (as opposed to Mexico, like the others) and supposedly with high gold content, all more or less patinated now and in varying degrees of preservation but all intact, many of high value individually, all used in native cultures as money for trade. Cast in an alloy with arsenic (which is probably why they survived), the tajaderas were first documented in Oaxaca in 1548 by Spanish resident Francisco Lopez Tenirio with a drawing and the notation: "This is the form of copper coins that were in used in New Spain." For more information, see Axe-monies and Their Relatives (Hosler, Lechtman and Holm, 1990) and The “Tumbaga” Saga: Treasure of the Conquistadors (Garcia-Barneche, 2010). Pedigreed to the Mark Bir collection (with his tag).