**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, Colombia, Tumaco region, La Tolita culture, ca. 500 BCE to 500 CE. A gathering of 3 fragmentary pottery fish graters with dozens if not hundreds of raised flanges intended for stripping the multitudinous scales from fish. Two of the fragments are decorated with red pigment and display the head of either a fish or a turtle, and the third fragment is of oblong form with raised flanges on one side. Used to grate various vegetables and to descale fish, effigy graters like this example were utilized in the Tumaco region of what is now Colombia by the Tolita culture. Size: 5.875" L x 3.8" W (14.9 cm x 9.7 cm)

Provenance: private Reinsmoen collection, Clear Lake, Iowa, USA, acquired through descent from Robert Anderson, acquired prior to 2000

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#185387

Each is a fragment of a larger artifact. Nice remains of red pigment on 2 larger pieces.