Dig It - 7/7/25
Hey Fellow Seekers, this is a nice old mask from Guamuchil, Nayarit, Mexico, or so the old label says. I hope I spelled the village right; sometimes it is hard to read those old labels. I started collecting Mexican masks back in 1976, when I was studying pre-Columbian art at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City. Good to great masks were hard to come by even back then, as large collections were being put together by the Mexicans themselves.
Is this a horse, a mule, or maybe a burro? He has quite a fancy goat fur headstall, which implies to me it may be a horse, a sign of status and wealth, but burros are much more common; anyway, he is an equine. He really is quite a wonderful fellow, his ears twitching like he is not sure about his rider/master. The mask has been danced and is available for sale. He reminds me of that line from "Treasure of the Sierra Madre." "Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges.” That’s true, Fellow Seekers. We don’t need no stinking badges, at least for the time being. -Lonesome