Necklace

Date1800-1850

MediumCowrie shell

DimensionsObject/Work: 450 mm (inner circ.)

ClassificationsPersonal Ornament

Terms

Object numberC12854

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.

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