Tupu Pins w/ Birds - Inca Silver + Post-Conquest Bronze

**Originally Listed At $250**

South America, Peru, Pre & Post Conquest Period, Chimu-Inca Culture, ca. 1000 to 1600s CE. A pair of cast metal tupu pins with bird finials- the smaller is a silver-copper alloy and likely Chimu-Inca culture, while the larger bird is bronze and made at a later period. The tupu is the Andean version of a brooch or shawl pin that has been used for nearly a millennium, the style and material changing with colonization. The bronze content of the long-billed hummingbird indicates it was cast sometime in the after Spanish conquest and possibly into the colonial era. Size of silver alloy bird: 3.2" L x 0.5" W (8.1 cm x 1.3 cm); silver quality: 41% to 72%

Provenance: private Rochester, Michigan, USA collection, acquired 1975; ex-Frank Boos collection, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA

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#182615
Condition Report: Heavy patina and pitting to the bronze pin. Smaller silver pin is excellent with dark toning. Old inventory numbers on the surfaces of both.