Inca T-Shaped Axe Money Ingots, Pair, Tumi FormPre-Columbian, Peru, Inca...
Inca T-Shaped Axe Money Ingots, Pair, Tumi FormPre-Columbian, Peru, Inca Empire, ca. 1250–1450 CE. A pair of heavy cast copper alloy blades in the flared tumi silhouette: a narrow shaft opening into a broad crescentic cutting edge, crowned by a straight transverse bar that once seated the haft. Both are hammered flat and thin, their surfaces carrying scattered blue-green patina, cuprite reds, and earthen deposits. Objects of this ingot type were probably never swung in earnest; their standardized shape and weight suggest they served as a medium of exchange, a form of premonetary currency circulated across the Andes and along the coastal trade routes. Each is individually mounted on an old custom metal display base. Size of larger: 6" L (15.2 cm L); Size of smaller: 3.75" L (9.5 cm L).
Flat T-shaped or "axe money" blades (hachas monedas) are among the most intriguing artifacts of late Andean economics. Concentrated in coastal Ecuador and northern Peru, they were produced in graded sizes and often deposited in bundles of five or multiples thereof, tied together and buried or interred with the dead. Their edges are frequently too thin and too soft to have held a working bevel, which has led most scholars to read them as standardized units of value rather than tools, exchanged by weight within the maritime trade networks that carried Spondylus shell, metals, and textiles between Ecuador and the central Andes. The tumi outline they echo, the crescent-bladed ceremonial knife of Andean ritual, gave the form a resonance beyond commerce.
Provenance: Private Chicago collection. Acquired from Primitive Arts, Tucson, AZ., 1990’s.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #73223Both have a scattered blue-green surface patina with surface deposits. The smaller example has some ancient blade chips, otherwise intact. The larger example has overall scattered surface abrasions, otherwise intact.
Inca T-Shaped Axe Money Ingots, Pair, Tumi FormPre-Columbian, Peru, Inca Empire, ca. 1250–1450 CE. A pair of heavy cast copper alloy blades in the flared tumi silhouette: a narrow shaft opening into a broad crescentic cutting edge, crowned by a straight transverse bar that once seated the haft. Both are hammered flat and thin, their surfaces carrying scattered blue-green patina, cuprite reds, and earthen deposits. Objects of this ingot type were probably never swung in earnest; their standardized shape and weight suggest they served as a medium of exchange, a form of premonetary currency circulated across the Andes and along the coastal trade routes. Each is individually mounted on an old custom metal display base. Size of larger: 6" L (15.2 cm L); Size of smaller: 3.75" L (9.5 cm L).
Flat T-shaped or "axe money" blades (hachas monedas) are among the most intriguing artifacts of late Andean economics. Concentrated in coastal Ecuador and northern Peru, they were produced in graded sizes and often deposited in bundles of five or multiples thereof, tied together and buried or interred with the dead. Their edges are frequently too thin and too soft to have held a working bevel, which has led most scholars to read them as standardized units of value rather than tools, exchanged by weight within the maritime trade networks that carried Spondylus shell, metals, and textiles between Ecuador and the central Andes. The tumi outline they echo, the crescent-bladed ceremonial knife of Andean ritual, gave the form a resonance beyond commerce.
Provenance: Private Chicago collection. Acquired from Primitive Arts, Tucson, AZ., 1990’s.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #73223Both have a scattered blue-green surface patina with surface deposits. The smaller example has some ancient blade chips, otherwise intact. The larger example has overall scattered surface abrasions, otherwise intact.
