Watch List notes:

Lot of 10 pieces of pre-Columbian (Tairona or Sinu) "tumbaga" gold, including 9 nose rings and 1 frog figurine, rare and important, with collection pedigree. 118.27 grams total, roughly 1" to 1-1/2" in size. Anyone who has recently visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City surely remembers the rooms full of pre-Columbian gold artifacts on display there, case after case of nose-rings and frogs just like we have here, each item of inestimable artistic and archeological value. The collection in this lot was its own little museum, each piece slightly different in terms of size, shape and curvature but fundamentally the same in having two flat, flared ends, except for the frog of course, which is hollow and thin and formed into a round body with head topped with dots for eyes and nose. The gold used to make these pieces is mostly high grade but several show discoloration and/or green corrosion from admixture with copper ("tumbaga" gold). We considered offering each piece in separate lots, as each one is valuable on its own, but decided to honor the former owner's collecting efforts in assembling this exhibit over the course of almost 30 years. Accompanied by import paperwork from Europe. Pedigreed to the collection of "H.S." (Germany), who assembled the collection from 1971 to 1998 and purchased most from a Dorotheum auction of 1984.

Estimate: $5000