A Moche-Chimu Hummingbird Coco Spoon, ca. 100 - 300 CE, ca. 100 - 300 CE:
Medium: Copper
A copper coca spoon (also called lime spoon), used to measure lime powder in order to enhance the hallucinogenic properties of other drugs. The spoon features a hummingbird finial with characteristically long pointy beak standing on a post, surmounting a long slender body fashioned at the end to create a small spoon for the lime powder. Perforated for attachment. Appreciated for their shiny, iridescent feathering and aerial acrobatics, the ancients associated hummingbirds with the sun. As these birds can hover, motionless, and fly up, down, and even backward, the ancients likened their motions to the sun's hovering in the sky at the solstices when it is also known to reverse its celestial direction. Furthermore, hummingbirds can assume a torpid state when it is cold at night or during brief periods in the winter, coming "back to life" in the spring warmth. This unique ability to "die" and "resurrect" signified rebirth to the ancients, precisely at a time when planting and, in this sense, "renewed life" occurred.

Dimensions: Height: 4 inches (10 cm)
Reference No: 500

PROVENANCE: Jack Bregman private collection, acquired in the 1970s, ex. Fred Drew collection, thereafter private NYC collection.

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With good red-brown patina, intact and in very good condition overall.