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Collection of 12 pre-Columbian copper-arsenic tajaderas (several different types) from native Americ

Currency:USD Category:Artifacts / Non-wreck Start Price:400.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 750.00 USD
Collection of 12 pre-Columbian copper-arsenic tajaderas (several different types) from native Americ
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This item SOLD at 2012 Jun 28 @ 22:45UTC-4 : AST/EDT
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Collection of 12 pre-Columbian copper-arsenic tajaderas (several different types) from native American cultures in Mexico and South America. 340 grams total. A decent representative lot of most of the known types, including 4 heavy mushroom-shapes (Hosler 2A, 2B, 5A and variant of 5B, all scarce to very rare), 4 thin wavy ones (Hosler 1A, common), 2 tiny hammer-shapes (Hosler 4B) and 2 small triangular ones (Hosler 1A and B), 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).