Pre Columbian pottery has long been popular with collectors and archelogists. In fact, that popularity has resulted in countless pieces being illegally excavated and sold around the world.
Our interest in Pre Columbian pottery developed from our encounters with old pottery shards while hiking in the New Mexico, USA back country. Much of what we found was Mimbres pottery or old Acoma or pueblo pottery. In addition, many modern potters use motifs from the old pieces on their new productions.
When this domain became available it seemed like it would make a good platform for discussion about pre columbian pottery.
I finally had a chance to look for pre columbian pottery on Ebay. There were six items from four sellers. Four of the items were from a New Mexico auction company that has been selling art and artifacts of the southwest for a long time. These were all effigy figures. They seemed well described.
Another auction was for a Nacza bowl. I guess this would be considered pre columbian, but I was under the impression Nacza was in the far south of Chile. I will need to study more about the definition of pre columbian. I suspect that like many things on Ebay things get stretched a little.
All these items had starting values over a hundred dollars.
Fraud is obviously a problem. One of the piece is being sold for a Swiss collector by an established gallery and they spent a lot of time expalining how they authenticate pieces. They also offer a guarantee the item is what they claim. Obviously a specialty for experts.