**Originally Listed At $500**

Pre-Columbian, Guerrero, Mexico, Mezcala culture, ca. 700 BCE to 650 CE. A lovely ensemble of three hand-carved greenstone earspools/ear plugs presenting in mottled hues of cream, celadon, and forest green. With each one drilled through the center on both sides to create a perforation through the spool, these ancient adornments vary in both size and form. The largest of the plugs features a broad, lengthy body of cylindrical form with a thin flared rim at the top. One of the smaller earspools also has a flared rim, however it is much larger in proportion to the body of the spool and flares out dramatically, causing the majority of the body to be curved. Last, the third presents an entirely flared profile. A wonderful trio! Size of larger: 2.5" in diameter x 1.375" H (6.4 cm x 3.5 cm)

Ear spools like these are often shown adorning lords and shamans in Pre-Columbian art, usually with a bead or serpent emerging from that central hollow plug; scholars have interpreted this to be a symbolic supernatural passageway through which the breath of the soul travels.

Provenance: private Kansas City, Missouri, USA collection; ex-John Townsend collection, formed in the 1970s and earlier

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#161930

One of the smaller spools has stable fissures on one side with some miniscule losses, but form is still clear. All have expected surface wear with a few miniscule nicks/chips and abrasions commensurate with age. Otherwise, all are very nice with lovely earthen deposits throughout.