Description (Physical description)
[From catalogue card:] 'Currency made of small perforated disks of clam shell. Coloured red. One bangle made of nut shell is introduced as ornament.
Event Date
Author: maa

Description (Labels & Markings)
A small rectangular copper label attached to the object has 'C2160' punched on it [Templeton Crocker collection number'.
Event Date 1934
Author: Lucie Carreau

Description (Field collection)
A note on the object's catalogue card reads: 'N.N. [Native Name] SAU. Made at Makira Harbour. From the atolls of Santa Catalina or Santa Ana'.
Event Date 1934
Author: Lucie Carreau

Description (Labels & Markings)
A small label attached to the object reads '34.281' in black ink.
Event Date 1934
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Four length of very fine shell currency, tied together at one end and decorated with tassels made from nut shells and strips of European woven cloth. The money is predominantly made from red spondylus shell with occasional section alternating white shell beads and black ?shell/?seed beads.
Event Date 6/10/2015
Author: maa

Context (Analysis)
Small red shell beads; well finished and highly polished. Some portions of the strands are regular from one bead to the next, while others are clearly restrung with beads that are more irregular. There are 4 strands that are tied 2 x 2 at the base and lashed together in pairs with end-to-end beads, nuts and red fabric. At the ends of the strands are some units of white beads and alternating white and dark seed beads. Although the beads have a red appearance when looked at as a collective, under magnification there's great diversity in colours and tones ranging from creams to fawns and browns. There are no white (Anadara) beads integrated into the main strands (barring the ends) but there might be a mix of either different parts of the Chama valves or different taxa (such as Benguina semiorbiculata).
These beads may be the type that people in Malaita now recognise as 'the older type made to the south'. They are said to be smaller, all red, and well polished.
Event Date 1/11/2017
Author: Katherine Szabo