DICE from PERU

On this page my large and rare collection of Peruvian dice, that I acquired in 2000 in Cusco and Lima. Most of them are stone and marble dice with a variety of symbols. All dice are handmade with carved or grooved symbols. Up to now I think the meaning of these symbols is the following: - Sun: Man (wiracocha) - Moon: Woman - Fist: Force or Money - Snake: Intelligence - Star (explosion?): War - Ground: Pachamama All dice are photograped twice so that you can see all six faces of the dice. Note that the dice with pips do NOT have the standard pip configuration (1-6,2-5,3-4). I would be very interested if somebody could tell me more about these dice, and about the type of games people used them for.

[1267] "sun,floor,floor,sun/cloud,corn in V shape, corn in X shape", marble, 27x30x32 mm



[1268] "sun,floor,moon,fist,star,4 small stars", marble, 45x45x48 mm



[1269 x2] "sun,floor,moon,fist,star,snake", marble, about 37 mm



[1270] "sun,floor,moon,star,wind mill, kind of X", marble, 32x33x34 mm



[1271 x2] "sun,floor,moon,fist,star,snake", marble, about 26 mm



[1272 x2] "sun,1 face with 3 pictures, 4 faces with 4 pictures", stone, about 45 mm



[1273 x3] "sun,floor,moon,star,wind mill, kind of X", stone, about 32 mm



[1274] "sun,pyramid,4 other symbols", stone, 30x33x34 mm



[1275] "flower,+ sign,X sign,3 other symbols", stone, 32x33x33 mm



[1276] "sun,floor,moon,star,wind mill, kind of X", stone, 27x28x30 mm



[1277] "1-3,2-4,5-6 and symbols of lama,flower,sun,leave,S S,S S S S", stone, about 24 mm



[1278 x2] "sun,moon,cactus,X (or +) sign, 2 other symbols", wood, about 25 mm



[1279] "1-3,2-4,5-6", stone, 13x17x18 mm



[1280 x2] "1-3,2-4,5-6 and 1-2,3-5,4-6, with stripe pattern on each side", stone, about 31 mm



[1281 x2] "1-5,2-6,3-4 and 1-2,3-4,5-6", stone, about 24 mm



[1112] "Cartavio (Peruvian beer)" promo dice, plastic, 14 mm



[1282] A die from the Sheraton casino in Lima, Peru, plastic, 19 mm



[1725 x5] Dice of rather bad quality, Peru, plastic, 14 mm