Description (CMS Description)
On catalogue card: 'Shell bead necklace / currency? Broken. White, red and black beads. Black tassels with small nut shells at the ends where chains join.'
Event Date 9/4/2009
Author: maa

Context (CMS Context)
There is no label or inscription on this object to indicate its provenance. The Z number register (#5) notes that it is associated to the Edgell collection [William Henry Edgell, whose collection came to MAA in 1923 and in 1961].
Event Date 27/8/2015
Author: Lucie Carreau

Description (CMS Description)
Seven strands of shell money, tied together at both ends. Many strands now broken. Predominantly formed of red shell beads with occasional sections alternating white shell and black beads. The ends are decorated with short red, white and black beads tassels, terminating with a nut shell and a length of blue barkcloth.
Event Date 27/8/2015
Author: maa

Context (Analysis)
Seven strands of shell money, but only 3 run the full length of the artefact. The dominant material is Chama but there are zones of alternating Anadara and dark seed beads. There is one, lone brown bead which matches Benguina semiorbiculata. It is well ground with very little wear. The red beads are well-polished and shiny but have little physical wear. However the lustre alone indicates use and handling. There is relatively little variation in size and use-wear traces amongst the red beads, although a few have more evidence of rounding. Overall there is little evidence that beads have been scavenged from multiple sources, and the use-histories appear similar.
Event Date 9/11/2017
Author: Katherine Szabo