“A popular bit of condor lore is that miners in the West and in Mexico used condor quills as containers for gold dust. The light durable quills could each hold as much as ten cubic centimeters of fine dust, worth roughly $105 at 1855 prices. They had a diameter of nearly one-half inch. Each quill was fitted with a wooden stopper and had an attached thong so it could be worn around the neck. A man with a necklace of three or four quills could be carrying a modest fortune. And where else could you find a container so durable, waterproof, and handy in frontier times?”