PRE COLOMBIAN STIRRUP VESSEL WITH EMBEDDED SMITHSONIAN TAG OLD EXHIBIT PIECE?

[miamibeachcg]

I found this in a storage unit auction I won a year or so ago. It appears to be a Aztec or S. American pre columbian pottery figure. One unusual thing - it has a brass/metal round tag inbedded in it that says
Smithsonium Institution
Washington DC 20560

I googled it and can't find another example - has anyone seen thin before?

Was this a piece sold in the souvenir shop - or could it have been a exhibition piece? I know museums frequently sell off parts of their vast collections to the general public to make room for new acquisitions.

As always, I appreciate your help

 

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[david680]

Best bet? Contact the Smithsonian. If it's stolen however....

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Im just gonna throw this out there. I thought about the round thing embedded in the bottom. Who would do that to an authentic antiquity? Then I remember that most museums will make replicas for display to the public and the real antiquity is locked away somewhere stored under optimum conditions. Its possible this is one of those replicas. Very interesting however.


Sounds like you do the same thing I do. Goodwill,thrift shops, yard sales etc. Treasures are out there for sure. The unmarked items being hard to recognize

 

[P.ALLEN]

Don't think it's original, it is very rare to have paint survive that long and be in such great shape (if that was the case it was found in a tomb). More than likely it is a repro of a piece that was featured during an exhibition. So I think your suspicions are correct.

Nor would any collector/curator attach a token into the artifact like that