METAL. 201 



raised spine- and scale-motives. The piece in the Metropolitan Museum is classed 

 as one of fourteen Mexican antiquities, the gift in 1896 of Mr. Audinet Gibert. If 

 found in Mexico it was evidently an importation from the south, since it fits so 



Fig. 333. Fig. 334. Fig. 335. 



Fig. 33 6 - 



Fig- 337- 



Fig. 338. 



Fig. 333 — Bead evidently made from a gold nugget. V' 



Fig. 334. — Gold bead. 7' 



Fig. 335. — Cylindrical bead made of sheet gold. '/■ 



Fig. 336—338. — Cylindrical gold beads. '/> 



Fig. 339- 



perfectly into the series from Chiriqui and the adjoining district in Costa Rica, 

 and belongs to the Central American type of goldsmith's art. 



In the Yale collections there are a number of gold beads of various shapes and 

 sizes (figs. 333-338). Some of them are evidently cast ; others are irregular in 

 shape, and seem to have been made of gold nuggets. One 

 bead is made of sheet gold rolled into the form of a cylinder. 

 Three cylindrical beads are reproduced, on which the enlarge- 

 ments at the ends seem to be a part of the casting rather 

 than fillets applied subsequently. 



A small gold object (fig. 339) in the possession of Mr. 

 George G. Heye was apparently intended to be worn as a 

 labret or perhaps earring, and hence belongs in the general 

 class of articles of personal adornment. There is a similar 

 but larger specimen in the British Museum, which has, in 

 place of the four horizontal slits, four rows of horizontally 

 arranged triangular perforations. Most of the gold objects 

 described here however are evidently for ceremonial purposes 

 as well as for adornment. A much more elaborate example 

 than either of the foregoing was reproduced by Herr Luders 

 as part of the celebrated Bugavita treasure. 



The gold bell illustrated in figure 340 is one of the gems 

 of the Yale collection. It is surmounted by an animal form. 

 The upper story, which is shaped like a church bell, is or- 

 namented at the top and bottom by raised horizontal bands. 

 Between these are groups of bands forming x-shaped figures. 

 These features in relief appear to have been . cast with the 

 body of the bell, the lower half of which is hemispherical 

 and slit vertically. The pellet inside is a gold nugget. The 

 entire piece is of fine gold. 



Among the rare animal forms represented in gold may be 

 mentioned the fish and the crayfish. Examples of these were 



illustrated in an article by F. M. Otis in Harper's Weekly. I have been unable 

 to trace the originals ; but have found in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, 

 a fish (fig. 341) similar in type to the ones figured by Otis. According to the 

 Memoirs Conn. Acad., Vol. III. 26 



Fig. 339. — Gold ornament, 

 to be worn as a labret 

 or earring. Heye col- 

 lection. 'A 



Fig. 340. — Fine gold bell 

 surmounted by an ani- 

 mal form ; the pellet in- 

 side is a nugget of gold. 

 V' 



