a) Bartering Dangling Earrings
22k gold
21.8 grams
b) Gear Beads
22k gold
59.3 grams
c) Excavated Garnet Stones and Pipe
22k gold
158 grams

PROVENANCE:Private Collection, Manila


According to the Boxer Codex, pre-colonial natives possessed multiple holes in the earlobes where they placed many gold ornaments. Some were worn only by women and are called pomaras. Others adorned both sexes and are called panicas, the general term for rings and plugs worn on the earlobe. In Francisco Ignacio Alcina's Historia de las islas e indios de Bisayas, the Spanish historian described these ornaments as "finger- thick gold rings" fastened "like a letter O" to the lowest earlobe. According to the late Ramon Villegas, these tube hoops also functioned as currencies, owing to the prestige of gold in pre-Hispanic Philippines. Gold necklaces were also among the highly valued symbols of wealth. According to the eminent scholar William Henry Scott, possession of these elegant pieces and the capability of a family or an individual to display them in impressive quality and quantity were of utmost importance for the highly coveted status and prestige within pre-Hispanic communities. (A.M.)