Pre-Columbian, Peru, Chimu culture, ca. 1000 to 1450 CE. A stunning necklace featuring dozens of petite discoid and cylindrical silver beads and a silver tweezer pendant, all strung on a modern strand with a barrel clasp to be wearable. Displaying the shape of a tumi, the tweezer is adorned with relief decoration of steppe motifs and glyph-like designs resembling birds. This implement would have been used as a depilatory, to painfully pull chin hairs out, since razors had yet been invented in the western world. Size of tweezer pendant: 1.5" W x 1.3" H (3.8 cm x 3.3 cm); of strand: 25" L (63.5 cm); silver quality: 95.3 to 96.6% with trace amounts of gold; total weight: 34.5 grams

Provenance: ex-Pepe Schaefer collection, La Quinta, California, USA, gifted in 1984 by Bosta Seminarao , Santa Rosa, California, USA, imported into the US 1955 or earlier

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#178255

Ancient beads and pendant strung on a modern strand with a barrel clasp to be wearable. Some minor nicks, indentations, and abrasions to beads and pendant. Otherwise, intact, excellent, and wearable with good remaining detail and light patina throughout.