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On July 14, 2026, Artemis Fine Arts in Boulder, Colorado, will host "Cultural Discoveries: Ancient / Ethnographic," a curated auction featuring a diverse selection of global antiquities and cultural artifacts. Spanning thousands of years of human history, the collection includes masterworks from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Near East, and Asia, alongside significant Pre-Columbian, Native American, African, and Oceanic pieces. The auction also features rare fossils and Neoclassical fine art, with all lots legally acquired and available with professional, in-house shipping. Chupicuaro Tripod Bowl + Costa Rican Rattle Ladle. Estimate: $600 - $900.

Nayarit Terracotta Bedded Figure, 2-Part Ensemble. Ca. 1 - 50 CE. Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit. Wonderful and quite rare bedded figure created in 2 parts. First, a shallow bed on 4 conical legs with 2 wide supports designed to go over the head and legs of the bedded figure. Next, the figure itself of "flat" form of indeterminate sex, arms to the sides but no clearly delineated, face with almond-shaped eyes, curved nose, three earrings on each side. Estimate: $1,000 - $1,500.

Costa Rica to Ecuador Redware Vessels | Zoomorphic Lugs. Pre-Columbian, Costa Rica to Ecuador, ca. 500 to 1500 CE. A pair of hand-built redware ceramic vessels, each decorated with incised geometric motifs -including hatched triangular and diagonal line patterns - and adorned with small zoomorphic applique lugs at the shoulders. Size of largest: 5" W x 4.5" H (12.7 cm x 11.4 cm) Estimate: $600 - $900.

Three Maya Chert Bifacial Blades | Belize, Classic Period. Pre-Columbian, Belize, Maya culture, Classic Period, ca. 250 to 900 CE. A group of three chert bifacial blades, each carefully pressure-flaked into elongated, lanceolate forms with sharp edges and pointed tips, displaying a range of tones from pale honey to deep charcoal with natural inclusions. Such blades held both practical and ceremonial roles, reflecting the skilled workmanship and material knowledge of Maya stoneworkers. Size of longest: 8" L x 1.75" W (20.3 cm x 4.4 cm) Estimate: $1,600 - $2,400.

Maya Greenstone Avian Head Amulet, Honduras, 600–900 CE. Pre-Columbian, Mesoamerica, Maya, Honduras, ca. 600 to 900 CE. A compelling Maya greenstone amulet carved in the form of an avian head, its curved beak projecting forward with quiet authority. The sculptor reduced the bird to essential forms — a rounded eye, hooked beak, and sharply incised lines suggesting plumage — striking a balance between abstraction and recognizable life. Estimate: $700 - $1,050.

Pair Aztec Pottery Body Stamps (Sellos), ex-Lands Beyond. A pair of Aztec fired clay stamps, each presenting a densely carved rectangular face with a raised handle on the reverse, one decorated with a bold composition of paired concentric spirals separated by stepped geometric frets and bordered by a band of fine dentil ornament, the other incised with an intricate program of interlocking rectilinear and zoomorphic motifs within a similarly toothed border, both representative of the sellos used throughout Mesoamerica to apply pigment patterns to the body, textiles, or other surfaces in ritual and ceremonial contexts. Estimate: $600 - $900.

Ecuadorian Pottery Ocarina, Shell Form, Ex-Gibran. Pre-Columbian, Ecuador, ca. 5th to 15th century CE. A pottery ocarina whistle in the form of a shell with etched zoomorphic and figural motifs. The artisan even molded the interior spiral, and the mouthpiece is set where the actual chamber openings of a shell would be placed. The instrument is pierced with a suspension hole for wearing on a necklace or belt. Size: 4" L x 3" W x 2.5" H (10.2 cm x 7.6 cm x 6.4 cm) Estimate: $400 - $600.

Pair Taíno Stone Spheres (Spheroliths), Greater Antilles. Pre-Columbian, Greater Antilles, Taino, ca. 1000–1500 CE. A pair of hand-worked stone spheres, each ground and burnished from speckled granite until the surface reads as a near-perfect globe. One retains a cool gray, mica-flecked complexion; its larger companion warms to a rosy, salmon-toned matrix shot through with dark inclusions. Estimate: $600 - $900.

Pair Wari Culture Painted Cups, Humaya Style, TL Tested. Pre-Columbian, Central Coast Peru, Huari (Wari) culture, ca. 600 to 900 CE. A pair of hand-built Humaya style pottery cups, each formed with a broad flaring body rising from a small ring base. Both are decorated in red, white, and black slip pigments, creating bold vertical panels adorned with dotted and linear motifs. Estimate: $1,400 - $2,100.

Moche Blue Steatite Effigy Bead | Crouching Feline. Pre-Columbian, South American, Peru, Moche, ca. 200 to 500 CE. A rare carved purple/blue effigy-form bead, modeled as a crouching feline or stylized creature biconically drilled and a side opening that held another amulet or pendant. Estimate: $1,200 - $1,800.