Curved-axe coins, also known as tajaderas, are among the most significant objects of Mesoamerica’s material universe, especially in western Mexico and in Oaxaca, as well as in the Purépecha region, where they achieved a notable level of standardization and use. These pieces are mostly made of copper, and served multiple daily and financial functions, becoming intricately integrated into the social and political life of Prehispanic societies. They are shaped like a half-moon, and were used as a means of exchange in commercial transactions, along with cacao and cotton. These coins are different from other curved axes made of stone, whose value was primarily symbolic and religious. During the Colonial period, the copper axes coexisted and were related to other types of Indigenous and Spanish money.
Archeological and historical studies have shown that the axes’ material and manufacture (and that of other metallic objects) reflect a high level of specialization in metallurgical practices, highlighting Michoacán as an important hub for metal work. The Purépecha goldsmiths were masters of extracting, processing and working with copper, and making tin and arsenic alloys to make bronze; they also used copper and silver alloys to create different objects for everyday use, and as decorations or luxury items. The axes were made in specialized workshops that made good use of the circulation of metals through the commercial networks that connected different western regions. Even as the Colonial period started, the Purépecha territory held large deposits of copper and other minerals, and metal working continued to be an expression of the elites’ political and ideological control.