Catalogue information
These Aztec copper alloy axes are too thin to use as weapons. Instead, they served as currency in the Aztec Empire and were used also by surrounding tribes within the Empire to pay tribute to the ruling Aztecs. Hammer-forged out of arsenical copper, this alloy provided Aztec craftsmen the ability to fabricate these axes to very thin proportions yet the metal was able to retain its tensile strength. While made of thin sheet, the edges of the butt possess a strengthening ridge as shown above. Ax-monies refer to bronze artifacts found in both western Mesoamerica and the northern Andes. At least one type was still being used in the mid-16th century when, in 1548, a Spanish Conquistador wrote about them, describing their use as money, and gave an exchange rate against the Spanish real. That document exists in an archive in Toledo (Spain) but unfortunately does not provide enough detail to identify the exact type he saw in use. Use of these copper objects is documented in several codices, most explicitly, the Codex Mendoza. Each ax would represented a substantial denominational sum.
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