**Originally Listed At $900**

Pre-Columbian, Columbia, Sinu (Zenu) or Tairona people, ca. 1000 to 1500 CE. A beautiful necklace comprised of over 70 ancient Pre-Columbian quartz, carnelian, and greenstone beads, and a tumbaga nose ring as the central pendant! Made via the lost-wax method, the tumbaga ornament has a solid, curved bar and discoidal end caps, cast from 47.5% to 48.4% gold (equivalent to 11K+) and copper- a modern bail setting in the center converts this to a pendant. All is strung in modern times on a thread and hook clasp as a unique and wearable piece. Size of strand: 22.3" L (56.6 cm); pendant: 1.3" L x 0.75" W (3.3 cm x 1.9 cm); gold quality: 47.5% to 48.4% (equivalent to 11K+); weight: 98.8 grams

The pre-Columbian Tairona, a group of chiefdoms in a mountainous part of Colombia, are renowned for their distinctive gold pieces. These ornaments held great symbolic power in life and in death - a prominent nose ornament would certainly mark the wearer as an elite member of society and would probably be buried with the deceased. The brilliant sheen served as a metaphor for the sun, regarded as a source of both light and life.

Provenance: private Dallas, Texas, USA collection, acquired before 2000

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

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#177525

Nicks and chips to stone beads. Green and black patina on the end caps of tumbaga. Strung in modern times on a thread with a hook clasp and wearable.