| Users |
20,859 |
| Photos |
3,349 |
| Comments |
264 |
| Views |
14,618,510 |
| Disk Space |
342.1mb |
|
| Sun | Mon |
Tue | Wed |
Thu | Fri |
Sat | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | | | |
|
|
|
|
« Previous image · Next image »
Gold leaf on Bronze Cowrie
Click on image to view larger image
« Previous image · Slide Show · Next image »
Moneta
Registered: August 2005
Location: Arizona USA
Posts: 2,346
|
These are the height of cowry value and rarity. I have other examples where bits of gold leaf have survived on a bronze cowry but this one is still mostly covered. It has not been heavily cleaned and that is why the very thin gold layer is retained on this example.
I and others speculate that these were valuable gift items from royalty and/or grave items. Note: the photo is poor here so I will re-post another at a later date. Also watch links here and in the Library for an extensive article of ancient cowries written by a famous Chinese researcher.
This is how Bob Reis (anythinganywhere.com) describes gold wrapped imitation cowries:
Shanxi, ZHOU Dynasty, 1122-255 BC, State of Jin, c. 600-500 BC, imitation cowrie, gold wrapped bronze, 23x28mm, 4.32g, H1.3 dirty, crusty, F $250.00. 19 x 16 x 2.5 mm.; 1.55 gm. RARE!
Moneta Library has articles on Cowries to VIEW and DOWNLOAD:
The Worlds's First Money, Chinese Cowries and Their Imitations - by Ted Puls [ link ]
Cowries - Bob Reis: [ link ]
Origin of Cowries in Ancient China - UofPa: [ link ]
Metallic Cowries - Royal Asiatic Society: [ link ]
Nice Video on Cowrie history: [ link ]
|
| · Date: September 8, 2007 · Views: 12,850 · Filesize: 54.1kb, 90.5kb · Dimensions: 793 x 500 ·
|
|
Keywords: Gold leaf on Bronze Cowry
|
|
|
|
|
