April 23, 2024
Colombian Tairona Tumbaga Copper Gold Alloy Monkey Man
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Colombian Tairona Tumbaga Gold Copper Alloy Monkey Man. 11 grams - 2 inches high. When the Conquistadors arrived in the new world in what today is know as Colombia, they discovered the indigenous peoples there making figures of animals, reptiles, birds, bats, human, holy men and mythical creatures. These figures depicted living things they considered to be sacred or holy. They believed they received powers from these creatures and these figures were often worn on a necklace and often buried with them. The pieces were made of an alloy of gold and copper with sometimes silver present. The copper lowered the melting temperature of the alloy and thus made it easier to work with. The Conquistadors termed this metal alloy tumbaga. Great hoards of these beautiful indigenous hand made pieces were melted into crude ingots by the Spanish to make the voyage to Spain. Some of these ingots have been found on a Spanish shipwrecks. The Spanish simply made a crude hole in the ground and poured the hot liquid in the hole to form the ingot. Not all of these pieces were melted and stolen by the Conquistadors. An unknown number of these pieces remain today. This piece is from the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Santa Marta, Colombia.. The actual gold content and exact age are unknown. This hand made piece piece weighs 11 grams and is 2" high. Own a piece
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