Evening star., 1912-11-03

at least a half peck of solid gold images
which have been taken from the old
grave mounds of Central America. No
one knows who buried them and some
suppose that they date back for hundreds
and even thousands of years. l saw q
quart of these images in the bank of
Ehrman & Co. in Panama City and |
am told that Minor c. Keith has a col
lection of them i'm New York which is
said to be worth several hundred thou
sand dollars.
ages in the Panama bank. They are
of all sizes from that of a mans thumb
nail to the palm of your hand. Some
are quite heavy and the gold in them
must be worth several hundred dollars.
Some represent frogs. others birds and
some are women with hawk head of
Hathor, or what looks very much like it,
Indeed, the most of the images have an
Egyptian cast and they remind one of
the treasures found in the pyramids. The
province in the northern part of the
Panama republic, where it joins Costa
Rica
l am told that large part of the
Keith collection came from Costa Rica.
and that they are now finding some
about the Gulf of Aqua Dulce. At San
Jose there is a jeweler who has some of
these images for sale, and down here at
very fine ones for $50 and $40 apiece |
should judge that this equals just about
half the value of the gold in them. DR..
spencer Franklin, who has them for sale
for native, says that they are prob
ably one or two thousand years old.
= x
The workmanship on these images is
exquisite. Some of them are beautifully
carved and some are lifelike in feature
Among the treasures of Mr. Ehrman are
Srn Il
These are round disks with nipple in
the center ranging in diameter from two
to six inches. The gold is a thin plate
and is unalloyed. He has also bracelet
which would fit around the biceps of
prize fighter and which is about four
inches VIDE This is also of solid gold
| understand that many such images
are being discovered and that in all cases
they come from these grave mounds of
the past.
Some OF the lakes of the Central Ameri-
can highlands are said to contain treas
ures put there by the Indians at the time
they were prosecuted by the Spaniards
There is one on the top of a mountain in
Colombia, not far from Panama. out of
which images like those | have described
have been taken. Th, most of them have
been found near the shore. and it is said
planning to drain the lake and mine the
bed for the treasures They are making
a tunnel to let off the water
heard OF similar treasure boards in
this same region of South America. There
Is one in Ecuador. said to contain the
treasures of the lncas, and another in
Peru where ii is claimed that something
like sixteen million dollars worth of gold
was thrown at the time Pizarro broke
faith with Atahualpa and caused his
death.
You may remember part of the story.
Pizarro had conquered Peru and was
taking away the silver by the shipload.
That metal was so common that the
Spaniards had their horses shod with it.
1t was at this time that Pizarro, the
Spanish general, had captured the Inca
king Atahualpa. who was also q sort of
prophet and high priest of the people,
He offered to ransom the latter il the
Indians would fill the room in which the
king was imprisoned with gold.
The room was seventeen feet wide.
twenty feet long and nine feet high The
gold was brought in in great quantities.
1t comprised gold plates torn from the
Temple Of the Sun at Cuzco. gold vases