**Originally Listed At $1000**

Pre-Columbian, Central America, Costa Rica, ca. 200 to 800 CE. A wonderful trio of hand-carved and meticulously polished celt pendants - the short light green example carved from jade and the others from greenstone - all smoothed and rounded on one side, presenting a groove on the other, and double perforations at their narrow end for suspension and/or attachment. What's more, the stones used to make these examples possess gorgeous hues ranging from seafoam to forest green. Celts, also known as hand axes, had meaning beyond weaponry, especially when made of jade. Lucite display stands for photography purposes only. Size of largest: 1.125" W x 4.9" H (2.9 cm x 12.4 cm)

The value of jade for people in ancient Central America lay in its symbolic power: perhaps its color was associated with water and vegetation; later, the Maya would place jade beads in the mouths of the dead. Many scholars have argued that the demand for jadeite contributed to the rise of long distance trading networks and to the rise of urban centers in ancient Mesoamerica. Jade would have come to Costa Rica in the form of axe-blades (celts) that would then be worked by local artisans into pendants like this one. The exoticism of stone that had traveled so far probably contributed to the value of these objects in ancient Costa Rica. By 800 CE, gold had replaced jade as the prestige material.

Provenance: ex Craig Hendrix collection, South Carolina, USA; ex Charles Craig Jr. collection, Costa Rica, acquired in the 1960s and 1970s

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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#154116

Largest repaired along the lower body, and smallest repaired along edge of one lower corner, with resurfacing and light adhesive residue along break lines; medium-sized item is intact and very good. All items have light abrasions and nicks to front, peripheries, edges, and verso, with light encrustations within some suspension holes. Great surface smoothness and light earthen deposits throughout.