This mola was made in the 1960s out of three layers of cloth using an embroidery technique called reverse appliqué. This mola is hand stitched (see photo below). Most of the cloth from these early molas came from the country of Colombia. This mola has Pre-Columbian art depicting a large bird in the center with 3 small birds on the edges of the design. This is a very well made art piece with lots of destail. One unusual feature on this mola is the reverse side . It was made using two different pieces of cloth sewn together to save on material. One side is faded and the other side is bright. This is the only mola I have seen with this design feature. It was removed from a Mola blouse. The edges are rough because of the removal. The upper edge has a blouse border still intact. It would display well if sewn into a pillow or if mounted in a frame on the wall.

Molas were usually made in matched pairs with one mola on the front of a mola blouse and the other on the rear of a mola blouse. Although molas were made in matched pairs, the two molas were usually made different and a skilled seamstress would incorporate a larger number of subtle differences. Over the past several decades, the production of molas has become a real industry in Panama with Cuna woman making large quantities of molas having contemporary Christian or commercial themes (Disney, comic book heroes, commercial products, etc.) and the art incorporates messages with perfect spelling and without anything related to the Kuna culture. Although contemporary molas sell at a premium on eBay or to tourists on cruise ships, they lack the spiritual meaning that the original molas had to the Kuna people.

Many of the simple molas with abstract geometric designs are among the most valuable. I certainly appreciate the older ones more because My childhood was spent on the Atlantic coast of Panama and I traveled many times to the San Blas Islands. I had many Kuna Indian friends who lived in Colon and worked in the restaurants or traded goods to the Hindu shops on Front Street in Colon. As a young adult, I worked on ships and one of my shipmates was a 75 year old Kuna medicine man whose name was John Bodder. He taught me much about how the Kuna Indians used indigenous plants, their gods and customs. I am sorry that I did not write it all down to share with others.

The molas that I sell are from two sources: my family collection (purchased between 1953 and 1974) and from Dean Flora, a Baptist missionary who spent a lot of time in the San Blas Islands in the 1960s and early 1970s. Dean was a wonderful man who tried to introduce Christianity without destroying the Kuna culture. The Kuna Indians loved him and made him an honorary member of their tribe. This honor is rarely bestowed to outsiders. Therefore, all of the molas that I sell are at least 35 years old. but most are 40 to 60 years old and some are even older.