Silver made by Mapuche smiths, called retrafe, in Chile and Argentina: pieces such as the trapelakucha and the trarilonko. The designs of the breast pendants picture the Mapuche cosmos, and the silver formed part of a woman’s dowry.
Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.
The Universidad de Chile describes Mapuche silverwork of the 18th and 19th centuries, made by smiths called retrafe. The designs of the breast pendants, it says, picture the Mapuche view of the cosmos.
To verify: What the trapelakucha and the trarilonko each are, as the university describes them; Whether the university page itself gives the 18th–19th century dates
The same source notes that silver like this formed part of a Mapuche woman’s dowry, the goods she brought with her into marriage.
We found no early record of these pieces being worn as amulets; our source describes dowry silver and a picture of the cosmos. Mapuche silver is Indigenous heritage: we will not copy it, and anything we show will come from Mapuche retrafe smiths, named.
