Tumbaga is the name given by SpanishConquistadors for a non-specificalloy ofgold andcopper, and metals composed of these elements. Pieces made of tumbaga were widely found inpre-ColumbianMesoamerica in North America andSouth America.
The term is a borrowing from theTagalogtumbaga. This came fromMalaytembaga, meaning 'copper' or 'brass'.[1] It has also been spelledtumbago in literature.[2]
Tumbaga is an alloy composed mostly of gold and copper. It has a significantly lowermelting point thangold orcopper alone[citation needed]. It is harder thancopper, but maintainsmalleability after being pounded.
Tumbaga can be treated with acarboxylic acid, such asoxalic acid, to dissolve copper off the surface. What remains is a shiny layer of nearly pure gold on top of a harder, more durable copper-gold alloy sheet. This process is referred to asdepletion gilding.
Tumbaga was widely used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Central and South America to make religious objects, as they considered gold a sacred metal. Like most gold alloys, tumbaga was versatile and could be cast, drawn, hammered, gilded, soldered, welded, plated, hardened, annealed, polished, engraved, embossed, and inlaid.
The proportion ofgold tocopper in artifacts varies widely; some items have been found with as much as 97%gold while others contain 97%copper. Some tumbaga has also been found to be composed of metals besides gold and copper, up to 18% of the total mass of the tumbaga.[citation needed]
Tumbaga objects were often made using a combination of thelost wax technique and depletion gilding. An alloy of varying proportions of copper, silver, and gold (typically in a percentage ratio of 80:15:5) was cast. It was burned after removal, turning surface copper into copper oxide, which was mechanically removed.[clarification needed] The object was placed in an oxidizing solution, likely composed of sodium chloride (salt) and ferric sulfate. This dissolved the silver from the surface, leaving only gold. When viewed through a microscope, voids appear where the copper and silver had been.
In 1992, approximately 200 silver "tumbaga" bars were recovered in wreckage offGrand Bahama Island. They were composed mainly of silver, copper, and gold plundered by theSpaniards during the conquests ofCortés and hastily melted into bars of tumbaga for transport across the Atlantic. Such bars were typically melted back into their constituent metals in Spain.[3]
