Featured What are these charms ? Dogs? Lapis necklace

Any ideas please? They look like dogs from the side and frogs from above!
Cute but puzzling
Each one is just over 3/4” long.
Thanks for looking

 

I'm seeing weird torsos.....

 

I'm goin' with frogs.
Notice the poetry? Frogs an' Dogs! Bwahahaha!

 

Replica pre-Columbian frogs from Colombia, Tairona culture. Although I can't quite see why the tails are there.
The lapis could be azurite or the other one which I can't remember now?

 

I think we’ve all been on the mushrooms

 

Cool, I’ll have a Google. Thank you.
Frogs with tails, those be tadpoles then?!

 

I have never seen Tairona tadpoles, but why not.

 

May well not be Lapis as it’s a cheap clasp.

 

What’s the symbolism? Protection or the opposite?!

 

"Of all of the animals represented in Pre-Columbian gold from Central America, the vulture and the frog are the most common. Frogs and toads emit secretions that are used by shamans to induce visions, but also as poisons. Frogs can go dormant for long periods during the dry season, appearing to come back from the dead when rains return. They are symbols of fertility, abundance, and transformation. Many frog ornaments actually depict a shaman transforming into a frog or a frog morphing into another animal."

https://www.artsbma.org/collection/frog-2/

Don't know why they call Colombia Central America, but there you are.
A lot of Tairona gold objects were Shamanic transition pieces, which could be an explanation for the tails. A frog morphing into a jaguar perhaps.

 

Interesting!
Are these similar? What is the Tumbaga reference?

 

Tumbaga is the Spanish word for an alloy of gold and copper. The replicas are not tumbaga though.

 

AJ-Do you know what the gold percentage of Tumbaga is or did it vary?

 

It varies.

 

Perhaps a caiman, when viewed from the top.

 

The head and legs are very much those of a Tairona frog-like creature though, and the Tairona caiman amulets are caiman-like:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/colombian-tairona-tumbaga-gold-copper-253513161

 

I know mine aren’t but the ones in the listing aren’t Tumbaga? Some artistic license by the seller?

 

Makes sense.
Slightly odd sense but sense nevertheless!

 

KSW-Think 'Shape Shifters',shamans.

 

If they are genuine, which I doubt, they would be tumbaga.
Judging from the 1 bid on each one, I am not the only one who doubted it. Genuine pre-Columbian ones are worth a lot more.

I always like those replica Tairona amulet necklaces btw, and have sold a few, always for nice money.