Brooch

Item number Sf395 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

A large metal safety pin with one shaft wrapped with strung beads; six to eight beads of one colour are followed by the same number in other colours in a regular sequence: orange, yellow, light green, dark green, dark blue, aqua blue, light blue, white, red then repeat.

History Of Use

Beaded pins of this type are worn by married people while elaborate ones with pendant coins are worn by unmarried teenagers. Teenagers are very interested in each others' pins. The tradition of wearing decorative pins is an ancient Andean custom. In colonial and later times, spoons with handles made into straight, pointed pins were worn. Before the Spanish conquest, tupus were slender stick pins surmounted by a flat disc or a cast animal figure.

Narrative

Sold by Faustino Quispe Cruz in Taquile. Made for him by his wife Petrona around the time of their marriage in August, 1987. When they were single, they both wore more elaborate pins with beaded, coin pendants.