Priceless Tumaco gold

Policia Nacional recovered the stunning Tumaco gold (1st century B.C.– 4th century C.E.) at Madrid’s Barajas airport in 2020.

It was part of a shipment which included several other extremely rare pre-Columbian gold figurines and jewellery illegally plundered from archaeological sites. Colombian authorities carried out house searches in Bogota, resulting in the seizure of another 242 ancient objects, the largest ever in the country’s history.

Gold Mask, eyes and teeth plated with platinum. Tumaco-La Tolita, National Museum of Ecuador 350 BC. – 400 AD. The Tumaco-la-Tolita used a process called sintering. They heated and mixed both gold and platinum together and hammered repeatedly until it was flat enough to be worked into different shapes. The advanced technique wasn't known to Europeans until the 18th century.