3-074-496 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Gold ornaments from the graves of the Incas of Peru - coil of gold worn as a belt or head-band, 1883. Item from '...a very interesting and unique collection of gold ornaments from the "Huacas" or graves of the Incas of Peru. They were obtained by Senor Don Leocadio Maria Arango, of Medellin, during a residence of thirty years in that country, but have now passed into the collection of Lady Brassey... Gold, in the figurative language of the people, was the substance of "the tears wept by the Sun."...Fig. 2 represents a flat coil of gold used as a belt or huaracu during a certain festival called Umu-Raymi, when it was presented to some noble for performing feats of arms. It was also used as an emblem of royalty, and was bound round the head of any consort of the Kings of the Incas'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.