Necklace

Necklace

Object name: Necklace
Date: 1800-1850
Dimensions:
450 mm (inner circ.)
Medium: Cowrie shell
Object number: C12854
DescriptionNecklace made of cowry shells with the tops ground off, bound together through the top and bottom ends to form a continuous band. It may be a piece bought from the sale of the Leverian collection in 1806, where Richard Cuming bought many of his pacific island pieces among other unusual items.
Cowry shells have been used as decoration, as currency and as charms or religious items for many thousands of years right across the world. In Fiji cowries are used to mark out the chief's house and so a cowry necklace like this could have been a similar sort of status symbol in this part of Polynesia.
Culture: Oceania