gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, Humboldt

Collected by the Prussian scholar Alexander von Humboldt at the beginning of the nineteenth century, this stone axe was the first artefact of the Olmec culture to be made known in a scientific publication. Its importance in the history of archaeology is enormous due to the enigmatic inscription engraved on one of its faces. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of this piece have been unknown since the Second World War.