Rare Moka Kina Shell Ceremonial Object Foi tribe Pigments Guinea Bride Price no3

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Rare Moka Kina Shell Ceremonial Object Foi tribe Pigments Guinea Bride Price no3:
$499.99

Beautiful Rare Authentic Old KinaNecklace, Foi Tribe.

Highly Collectable: item 160A21 (KINA3)

Very large and important unique oldercollectable Pectoral Adornment, as seen in museums: Huge mother of pearl very scarcetribal shell ornament carved in a ½ moon shape from a gigantic shell called theKina -Gold lip shell (Pinctada maximums)-, collectedin the field in a remote region of PNG, Papua New Guinea

(Papou Pygmy Tribe Body Art, and alsovaluable currency).

Read below for additional informationon this piece.

Very valuable trade currencyitem used as money to this day.

Huge: 8 1/2\" x 8\" for crescentalone.

Ruddy colored Kina Shell Ceremonial Object fromthe Foi tribe, very rare and old. Hand wovenband

Half Moon large Mother of pearl shell body (importanttrade ornament ) with knitted band (colored with natural pigments as well asthe shell itself) and a cuscus jaw bone for decoration in the back of the neck.

Collected in the field in the highlands of Papua NewGuinea 20 years ago. Shell has uneven edges in places as expected from a shell,

Mount-Hagen area. ( mid 20th Century)

When a kina is used aspayment in a ceremony, it is often stained with bright red dyes as here: thefront side is reddish colored. When the rear side of one of those pieces bears markings of clay and resin, it means that it was once presented on a tray andattached with resin onto it like the one worn on photo 5. It is even morevaluable as a currency then and demands further respect.

Necklaces, headbands and armbands areknotted from handmade string and may include seeds, trade beads, feathers andfur, grasses and ferns, croton leaves, yellow orchid vine, everlasting daisies,links of bamboo and fiber chains.

At feasts or bride negotiations, together with otherbride presents, a corresponding number of Kina Shells were presented on a tray.

The carrying suspension is red inkedwith natural pigment colors. The fastening ends are decorated with cowryshells. Marks of naming the Kina Shell can sometimes be recognized on the rearside.

The Kina Shells of the Foi tribe are reddishcolored and are sometimes decorated with scratch and/or point decorations atthe rims with a carrying suspension always inked brown or rust or brick red.Particular large and beautiful Kina Shells were often given their own name andkept in richly decorated bags. They were offered as gifts during ceremonies andfeasts.

The Kina Shell is part of theshell of the Gold lip shell (Pinctada maximums) and was part of the traditionalpayment and medium of exchange in Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya. It is at theorigin of the name given to the modern currency: \"Kina\", in Papua NewGuinea.

These shells are still used in traditional ceremonialpayments and currency to this day throughoutPapua New Guinea. Traded from the coast into the highlands, Kina shells areused for bride price, blood feud paybacks, wealth displays and exchangefestivals.

We are closing our doors so everything has been reduced!

Check Dominique Rice Oceania Store in Sun SentinelNewspaper, Fort Lauderdale, for information on our collection and authenticart.

If you have any questions, contact us or call fordocuments and further information on pieces.

All our collector and rare items comewith pages and pages of research about provenance, and with history of thetribes and photos as well, depending on item and whenever possible. Whenshipping internationally, we group ship multiple purchases to save you money,and find the best rates which often fails to calculate right. If you have anyquestions or want to see research conducted on this piece and photos of tribes,email or call us.

We have artifacts and architecturalaccents up to 10 ft tall that we will put on upon request because shipping hasto be calculated accordingly with trucking company.

Shells are Gold to the remote tribes of the highlands,and

Kina jewelry is the most important of all.

When the Leahy brothers came into the Highlands of PapuaNew Guinea searching for gold, they found people who valued the gold-lippedpearl shell as much as the miners valued gold. Shells are valuable all over NewGuinea, but especially so in the Highlands where the traditional tradingcontacts between tribes slowly passed shells from ocean to mountain valleys.The mountain people had no concept of the sea, but they wanted the rare,glowing shells. After contact, at the time, the Leahy\'s and others flew inthousands of shells to pay their laborers.

Kinas, mother of pearl necklaces, arerare treasures from Papua, were worn either alone or in quantities and made oflarge mother of pearl moon shaped pieces (the gold-lipped pearl shell is cutinto crescent shapes called kina)& decorated with fibers, brown pigments etc…

Warriors wear kina shells as displays of wealth and focusof their dress.

The polished, crescent-shaped shell with 2 drillings ateach end is considered a true object of value. Some Kina Shells have a broadwoven band, some have a simple cord with pulled up seed capsules, or just a simplecarrying cord.

The Kina Shell was an object of value and an essentialpart of the bride price. The value is judged by the condition of the shell, thesize and the color. Most valued were the reddish colored Kina Shells. They hadthe highest rank and price in the Mount Hagen area.

In the past, 8 Kina Shells were worth a fully-grown pig,for one shell one could get 1 small pig. The value of the Kina Shell surelyvaried from region to region. Until the 1960`s it had a fixed exchange rate of12 shillings per pair

We carry many other artifacts we collect direct from thetribes, in East and West Papua and the Trobriands and remote islands ofIndonesia, and that we put atsale and on the buy it now in our store on aregular base.