PRE COLUMBIAN GOLD STAFF HEAD SINU AVIAN TUMBAGA BIRD Start Price USD 3,500.00 Current Price USD 3,500.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Saturday, August 23, 2008 End Time Tuesday, September 02, 2008 Location North Miami, Florida See more about 'PRE COLUMBIAN GOLD STAFF HEAD SINU AVIAN TUMBAGA BIRD' Description Pagina nueva 1 thefivecontinents     PRE COLUMBIAN GOLD STAFF HEAD SINU AVIAN TUMBAGA BIRD    DESCRIPTION: I AM OFFERING THIS GOLD STAFF HEAD IN REPRESENTATION OF THE OWNERS, THEIR NAMES, DOCUMANTATION AND EXTRA INFO WILL BE GIVEN TO THE WINNING BIDDER ONLY THIS MUSEUM-QUALITY GOLD PIECE IS MADE OF GOLD AND HAS AN EXCEPTIONAL BEAUTY, AESTHETIC AND EXQUISITE FILIGREE. ORIGINAL PATINA IN MINT CONDITION. THE COINS THAT USED TO HANG OF ITS PICK ARE MISSING AS PICTURED. ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION WE GOT, THERE ARE CURRENTLY A FEW PIECES LIKE THIS, ONLY 20 PIECES ARE REGISTERED, THREE OF THEM ARE AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF NEW YORK, THREE AT THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART COLLECTION AND FOURTEEN AT THE COLUMBIAN GOLD MUSEUM. IT WEIGHS 163 grs. SIZE: HEIGHT 4" 1/2 (11,5 cm.) LENGTH 4" 3/4 (12,2 cm.) NOTE: WE WILL GIVE THE WINNING BIDDER THE PROVENANCE DOCUMENTS AFTER THE SALE OF THIS ITEM.   PROVENANCE: THIS SINÚ AVIAN STAFF HEAD WAS FOUND IN COLUMBIA IN THE 1950'S, AND IS MADE OUT OF A LOW QUALITY GOLD ALLOY KNOWN AS "TUMBAGA". THIS ARTIFACT IS PART OF MY CLIENTS Mr. & Ms..... MEMORIAL COLLECTION (THEIR FAMILIES EXTENSIVE PRECOLUMBIAN ART COLLECTION), LEGALLY OBTAINED WHILE THE CURRENT OWNER'S MOTHER & FATHER WORKED FOR THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT AND U.S. LIVING IN SOUTH AMERICA (PANAMA & BOLIVIA), IN THE LATE 1960'S AND EARLY 1970'S. THERE ARE CURRENTLY 610 PIECES OF THIS COLLECTION ON LOAN TO THE VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (THE OWNERS WILL BE HAPPY TO FURNISH COPIES OF INFORMATION, PERTINENT TO THE COLLECTION).   TESTIMONY GIVEN BY THE OWNERS:   My parents brought this Pre Columbian Artifact, along with their entire collection, into the United States in 1972, where it remained until my Fathers death on January 1st 2007. After the one-year waiting period, required by Virginia State Inheritance Law, I received the Staff head from my Parents Estate, and transported it to .........., where I have lived for the past 8 years.   INFORMATION TAKEN FROM THE COLUMBIAN GOLD MUSEUM SITE:   From 200 B.C. onwards, agricultural chieftainships built a canal system that was to control floodwater on the hot Caribbean plains for the next 1,300 years. The web or weave metaphor was present in the drainage channel network, fishing nets, pottery, and the goldwork that was made of alloys rich in gold. Water birds, alligators, fish, feline figures and deer were both sources of food and essential elements of their symbolic thought. In that time he deceased were buried with clay figures of women and covered with tumuli on which trees were planted, and bells were hung from the branches of these trees. The roundness of the tumuli and breastplates signified gestation and rebirth. Between 1100 A.D. and the Conquest, the Zenúes retreated to the high grasslands and the Sinú valley, while related groups occupied the Serranía de San Jacinto and the banks of the Magdalena. The goldsmiths of the Serranía de San Jacinto made objects for mass use out of alloys that were rich in copper: ear rings, pendants with richly-attired persons, and amphibian-men. Staff Heads, like this one shown from Colombia, are believed to be emblems of prestige and power. The Toucan had special significance in Pre-columbian America.  The Toucan was both an intelligent bird, and also a trickster. Bird-form pendants are found throughout southern Mesoamerica and into South America, and are perhaps the most typical metal artifacts of the region.  Christopher Columbus was the first European to name these objects "eagle pendants" when he saw them being worn by the peoples of the eastern coastal region of Costa Rica during his fourth voyage along Caribbean Central America in the early 1500s.         Powered by eBay Turbo ListerThe free listing tool. List your items fast and easy and manage your active items. Place a Bid!