Gold Bird Pendant
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1964
name: label: Donor Name
content: Mrs. Marjo Stevens
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Cast and hammered gold pendant of bird with spread wings. Snake or lizard in mouth broken. Hammering marks distinctly visible on rear, scratch lines from polish on front. March 1976 - depletion gilding of gold. - J. Gardner, C. Evans."
label: Notes
content: Gold alloy bird pendant. The pendant is an open back casting in the shape of a bird or bat, with hooked open beak holding a snake, ball in rign eyes, coiled wire ears and two plumes/feathers on the head. Two protruding feet extend forward from a very small body. Facial features and claws are in high relief. The wings and tail are large, flat, thin and moderately smooth and extend from the base of the body. The flattened feather plumes, wings and tail, have a burnished sheen with fine polishing scratches visible on the surface. The back of the head and chest are hollow. A single suspension loop is incorporated in the casting at the back of the neck. All the flattened elements are dimpled on the back with hammer marks and are slightly wavy along the edges. The 'as cast' surface is apparent in the face and claws, which retain the typical matt, unburnished, pinkish-red oxidization layer on both front and back. Two smooth rounded raised beads on the front of the feet are likely the remnants of wax wire channels employed in the casting process to aid in the flow of metal.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 26 Apr 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Panama, Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
culture: label: Culture
content: Chiriqui
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 254765
label: USNM Number
content: A439908-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Pendant