2 UNUSUAL LLAMA BEZOAR STONES 4.8 gm Authentic, Andean Pearls C644

Description

Experts in Finding Rare Objects for Your Collecting Interests
TWO (2) AUTHENTIC
LLAMA BEZOAR STONES
FROM THE BOLIVIAN ANDES
Inventory Number:
C644
Origin:
We collected these in the rugged Eastern Andean Cordillera (10,000 to 15,000 feet elevation), Department of Potosí, Bolivia, South America. This region is characterized by scattered, isolated, small hamlets in rough, mountainous terrain. Reaching small communities or family dwellings is often very difficult and quite time-consuming. Seldom do owners possess more than a few bezoar stones and extremely large examples are unknown. Nevertheless, these mountains have produced a splendid variety of llama bezoar stones, many with beautiful colors and interesting shapes.
Species:
Llama --
Lama
glama
(Linnaeus, 1758).
Size
(maximum by minimum)
:
The largest stone measures 2.11 cm. by 1.74 cm. by 1.35 cm.; the smaller stone measures 1.72 cm. by 1.74 cm. by 0.97 cm. by 0.93 cm
Approximate Weight:
4.8 grams.
Basic Form:
Both stones are irregular in shape. Please refer to the photos and the sizes.
Colors:
Variegated shades of white, brown, ivory and black.
Observations:
Both stones have unusual, irregular forms with a nice variety of surface colors and textures.
Cautionary Suggestion:
Your GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC bezoar stones should arrive intact as illustrated in the photos. Although most bezoar stones are solid, hard, dense and compact, they are not rocks and can easily break. You should not drop, drill, press or squeeze them. Microscopic exfoliation, especially with stones having rough or fragile surfaces, is not uncommon.
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SHIPPING BEZOAR STONES
Shipping policies during the pandemic may change momentarily. Currently, we can ship bezoar stones ONLY to the following countries: The United States of America, Spain, Brazil, and Argentina.
We cannot ship to ANY OTHER COUNTRY
. We will announce any changes to these policies as they occur. Our offices are not in close proximity to international postal service. Most items are shipped within one to three working days of payment. In recent months packages have reached the U.S.A. within a span of 10 to 28 days.
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ANDESAMAZON BEZOAR STONES
We began acquiring authentic llama bezoar stones nearly 30 years ago. Examples appeared in shamans medicine bundles and bags that were collected as part of our ethnographic investigations in the Southern Andes of South America. In time, we realized the importance of these rare stones not only as spiritually-powerful phenomena to Andean Indians but also as medicines, occult talismans, protective amulets, supernatural charms, treasured historic trade-goods and scientific curiosities throughout much of the world. Their mysterious qualities are both appreciated and negated in published literature, as are many marvels originating from tribal cultures.
We realized that selling llama bezoar stones could help fund our anthropological research. Thus, assisted by llama herder informants and our own native field investigators (many of whom are former or current camelid herders) we began accumulating authentic stones. For decades we have searched the highlands of Chile, Peru and Bolivia in pursuit of these marvelous wonders. Acquiring stones one by one or in small groups from remote hamlets and tiny villages throughout much of the Andes, we have accumulated an impressive and diverse collection of bezoar stones. As are meteorites, natural gem-stones, fossils and other similar collectibles, each is a unique and peculiar natural rarity. That they might also possess super-ordinary energies is just an additional bonus to their appealing physical characteristics.
Nearly all of our bezoar stones are from native, South American llamas (
Lama
glama
Linnaeus, 1758). However, a few rare stones originate with huarizos (a mixed cross-breed between llamas and alpacas -
Vicugna
pacos
Wheeler et. al 2001). Every stone we sell is GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC. Bezoar stones are calculous, or mineral, concretions found in the intestinal tracts of these pseudo-ruminants and are therefore derived from dead animals. Apart from providing meat for human consumption, the causes for adult animal mortalities vary significantly and include: railway and highway fatalities, puma (cougar) kills, drowning from flash floods and especially poisonous plant consumption. Occasional winter freezes also take their toll on camelid herds in the Andes. More frequent than these types of losses, however, are those in which animals are killed by natural lightning strikes. This is especially understandable in regards to the high Altiplano, where lightning storms are frequent and llamas and humans usually represent the tallest living entities. Rest assured, in the past few hundred years, no llama has ever been killed just to obtain its bezoar stones. First, the stones are rarely encountered and it would be practicably impossible to determine if a particular live individual possessed a stone or not. Second, live llamas or their cumulative bi-products are much more valuable than the bezoar stone or stones they might contain. Discovering a bezoar stone, for the most part, is contingent on good fortune.
More than ninety percent of the stones in our collection come directly from age-old indigenous shamanistic “medicine” bundles or pouches, variously called
jayintill qipi
,
yatir qipi
,
qullir wulsa
, et al. In the majority of cases we do not know how long ago the stones were extracted but most are certainly many generations old and a large number are undoubtedly of 19th or 18th century age; some exceptionally large examples may date to the prehistoric era.
Llama bezoar stones have always been desirable and highly valued, not only in the Andes but also abroad. Historically, they were especially sought after in Europe and the Middle-East for their properties as poison antidotes. Although ridiculed by skeptics, research at The Scripps Research Institute has proven that bezoar stones can indeed, remove toxic compounds in arsenic poison. Depending on specific native traditions, bezoar stones were also believed to provide their owners with longevity, strength, courage, spiritual protection, magical powers, correct mindfulness and other extraordinary abilities. In the Andes many were blessed or anointed in ceremonies with sacred
qarwa u:ntu
llama grease, flowers,
chicha
, cane alcohol,
copal
smoke, etc. In some rituals, they were treated as living things, or at least endowed with supernatural energies. Some were actually consulted, as deceased ancestors might be, in seeking advice or solutions to personal and communal challenges and problems. Historically, inhabitants of the Andes commonly carried them in little woven, knitted or leather pouches for good luck, well-being or general protection from malignant energies. Enjoy our selection. Feel free to ask about bulk orders. Thank you for your interest and support.
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BEZOAR STONES
By
Lorenzo Fritz-Francisco
2010
Investigaciones Culturales de Bolivia: Miscellaneous Cultural Notes XIX
,
La Paz, Bolivia
Bezoar stones are calculous, or mineral, concretions found in the digestive tracts of various artiodactyls. They have been utilized for millennia for their presumed magical qualities. These curious “gall” stones have also been called
mustika
pearls. Bezoar stones are relatively rare and have always been extremely valuable to tribes and cultures that revere them. In Europe, throughout most of the second millennium A.D., the “stones” were especially sought after by royalty, politicians and wealthy persons who believed that they could be used as antidotes against poison that their enemies might attempt to serve them. The first bezoar stones introduced to Europe as early as the 11th century A.D. came from wild mountain goats in western Persia (now Iran). By the 16th century, camelid bezoar stones transported from South America by the Spanish were especially popular in Europe, primarily for their remedial qualities with poison. Curiously, regarding their properties as poison antidotes, the following quote is from Corey Malcom 1998,
Bezoar Stones
:
“
Modern examinations of the properties of bezoars by Gustaf Arrhenius and Andrew A. Benson of The Scripps Research Institute have shown that they could, when immersed in an arsenic-laced solution, remove the poison. The toxic compounds in arsenic are arsenate and arsenite. Each is acted upon differently, but effectively, by bezoar stones. Arsenate is removed by being exchanged for phosphate in the mineral brushite, a crystalline structure found in the stones. Arsenite is found to bond to sulfur compounds in the protein of degraded hair, which is a key component in bezoars
.”
Indigenous tribes throughout the world and especially in the Americas have valued bezoar stones as talismans and amulets for various curative and magical qualities for thousands of years. J. J. Kent 2004,
Bizarre Tales About Bezoar Stones
reports:
“
The Quichua name is illa, and Holquin in his Quichua dictionary says that the natives believed that bezoars were luck-bringing stones. Another name, quicu [probably “kiku,” Peruvian Aymara], is vouched for by Arriaga, who states that the Spaniards found some bezoars stained with the blood of sacrificial victims, thus showing that they were thought to possess a certain religious or mystic significance
.”
Actually, the word
illa
is probably of Pukina (Puquina) origin (the “secret” language of the Incas that was probably the base language spoken at Tiwanaku until the 12th century A.D.). The term
illa
is used even today by Aymara, Kallawaya and Quechua llama herders to refer to amulets, fetishes and other objects of great power and energy. The majestic Andean mountains called Illimani and Illampu in Bolivia get their names from the word
illa
. Among Kallawaya, Southern Aymara and some Northern Aymara llama herder’s bezoar stones are called
jayintilla
(containing the suffix
illa
). In the province of Pacajes, La Paz they are called
jivillanta
in Aymara. In the Department of Oruro, the stones are ground to powder and mixed with tea or water to be drunk by native children to give them strength, courage and power over malignant energies. Many Andean shamans consider them a mandatory ingredient for reviving elderly patients on the verge of dying.
Curiously, bezoar stones are known from only a few regions in the Bolivian Andes. Small, mostly black examples come from north of Lake Titikaka where animals mostly graze on fine rough grass. Medium-sized, mostly colored examples come from limited regions in the Department of Oruro dominated by dry thula brush. The largest stones, usually cream colored, are found in a couple of very isolated areas where llamas feed on cactus. Young individuals seldom have bezoar stones and very old individuals, of say 10 to 15 years, tend to have the largest stones. According to Aymara llama herders, only llamas that “talk,” or make loud vocal sounds, are those with bezoar stones. Vicuñas and alpacas rarely produce stones and sheep do not produce true bezoar stones… nor do non-artiodactyls.
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ANDESAMAZON
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