---Where did these come from? Estate auction?
Thank you for your interest.
All "Artifacts" are from family members. Not an "estate sale," but it's time to let them go.
Items From The 1960''s \u0026 1970's Some Famous Works, Art Of Family Member \u0026 Her Artifacts
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THE MOST EXPENSIVE COLORED GEM IN THE WORLD. JADE
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Perforators were used in self-sacrifice rites, which involved drawing blood from several parts of the body. Some representations of Olmec rulers show them holding blood letters and/or scepters as part of their elaborate ritual costume.
Bloodletting was performed by the ruler to ensure the fertility of the land and the well-being of the community.
It was also a means of communication with the ancestors and was vital to sustain the gods and the world. These rituals were common throughout Mesoamerica.
Olmec jade perforators are often found in graves as part of the funerary offerings. Bloodletting implements were also fashioned out of bone, flint, greenstones, stingray spines and shark teeth. They vary in form and symbolism. Handles can be plain, incised with a variety of symbols associated to certain deities, or carved into the shape of supernatural beings. The blades, ending in a sharp point, are sometimes shaped into the beaks of certain birds, such as the hummingbird, or into a stingray tail.
This large perforator was probably not used as a bloodletting instrument; it might have been placed in a grave as an offering, or may have served a symbolic function.
- 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.