MUISCA RAFT
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2025 8:20 pm
Date of Issue: March 10, 2004
Scott #: 1221
El Dorado: is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dove into Lake Guatavita, a highland lake. Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold", which fascinated explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors. No evidence for its existence has been found.
Imagined as a place, El Dorado became a kingdom, an empire, and the city of this legendary golden king. In pursuit of the legend, Francisco Orellana and Gonzalo Pizarro departed from Quito in 1541 in a famous and disastrous expedition towards the Amazon Basin, as a result of which Orellana became the first person known to navigate the Amazon River all the way to its mouth.
The Ceremony: The Zipa (King or chief priest) used to cover his body in gold dust and, from his raft, he offered treasures to the Guatavita goddess in the middle of the sacred lake. This old Muisca tradition became the origin of El Dorado legend. The model of the raft in gold (as shown in stamp sheet) is on display in the Gold Museum, Bogotá, Colombia.
Source: Wikipedia.
The Muisca raft (Balsa Muisca in Spanish), sometimes referred to as the El Dorado Raft, is an artistic figure of pre-Columbian gold votive, drafted by the Muisca who established one of the four grand civilisations in the Americas on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The piece is exhibited at the Gold Museum in Bogota. It is estimated that the figure was drawn between 600 and 1600 AD by lost-wax casting in gold with a small amount of copper.
The figure refers to the ceremony of the legend of El Dorado. It represents the ceremony of investiture of the Muisca chief, which used to take place at Lake Guatavita. During this ritual, the heir to the chieftainship (zipa) covered his body with gold dust and jumped into the lake along with gold offerings and emeralds to the gods. The piece has a base in the shape of a log boat with dimensions of 19.5 cm x 10.1 cm and various figures on the raft, the largest figure that stands in the middle apparently represents the chief, which is adorned with headdresses, nose rings and earrings, measuring 10.2 cm and is surrounded by his soldiers who carry banners.
The raft was found by three farmers in early 1969 in a cave in the village of Lázaro Fonte in the municipality of Pasca (Cundinamarca), Colombia in a ceramic pot, adorned with a human figure whose face has sharp teeth. The priest of the municipality protected the piece until it was acquired by Bogota's Gold Museum and where it has become one of its major exhibition pieces.It has never left Colombia.
https://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/621 ... d-Colombia
Columbia 2004 $2,800 sg2338, sgMS 2344 3,700$
Scott #: 1221
El Dorado: is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dove into Lake Guatavita, a highland lake. Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold", which fascinated explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors. No evidence for its existence has been found.
Imagined as a place, El Dorado became a kingdom, an empire, and the city of this legendary golden king. In pursuit of the legend, Francisco Orellana and Gonzalo Pizarro departed from Quito in 1541 in a famous and disastrous expedition towards the Amazon Basin, as a result of which Orellana became the first person known to navigate the Amazon River all the way to its mouth.
The Ceremony: The Zipa (King or chief priest) used to cover his body in gold dust and, from his raft, he offered treasures to the Guatavita goddess in the middle of the sacred lake. This old Muisca tradition became the origin of El Dorado legend. The model of the raft in gold (as shown in stamp sheet) is on display in the Gold Museum, Bogotá, Colombia.
Source: Wikipedia.
The Muisca raft (Balsa Muisca in Spanish), sometimes referred to as the El Dorado Raft, is an artistic figure of pre-Columbian gold votive, drafted by the Muisca who established one of the four grand civilisations in the Americas on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The piece is exhibited at the Gold Museum in Bogota. It is estimated that the figure was drawn between 600 and 1600 AD by lost-wax casting in gold with a small amount of copper.
The figure refers to the ceremony of the legend of El Dorado. It represents the ceremony of investiture of the Muisca chief, which used to take place at Lake Guatavita. During this ritual, the heir to the chieftainship (zipa) covered his body with gold dust and jumped into the lake along with gold offerings and emeralds to the gods. The piece has a base in the shape of a log boat with dimensions of 19.5 cm x 10.1 cm and various figures on the raft, the largest figure that stands in the middle apparently represents the chief, which is adorned with headdresses, nose rings and earrings, measuring 10.2 cm and is surrounded by his soldiers who carry banners.
The raft was found by three farmers in early 1969 in a cave in the village of Lázaro Fonte in the municipality of Pasca (Cundinamarca), Colombia in a ceramic pot, adorned with a human figure whose face has sharp teeth. The priest of the municipality protected the piece until it was acquired by Bogota's Gold Museum and where it has become one of its major exhibition pieces.It has never left Colombia.
https://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/621 ... d-Colombia
Columbia 2004 $2,800 sg2338, sgMS 2344 3,700$