Tracy Hurley: The Currency of Oceania
The piece below is a currency piece called a women’s money brooche. It is an artifact from New Guinea. It has a reticulated stirling disk which holds a singular oceanic tribal currency shell. The shell itself is from the opening of a larger shell fish and acts as a door in the natural home of the creature.The silver disc may have been a modern inclusion, although the western visitors who originally visited the tribes did swap metal objects from Europe such as nails and trinkets which may have been fashioned into more intricate pieces by the natives. The background has been developed using traditional weaving techniques.
The piece below is similarly surrounded by reticulated sterling silver and sits on a modernist ground.
An unusual boar’s tusk pectoral from the Boiken culture of Papua New Guinea. With one full tusk lashed to the fiber center, several tusk fragments fill out this quirky asymmetrical Pendant. A broken bailer shell hold anchors a tiny nassa shell and a strand of white and red beads with a nice old cone shell at the end. Nassa shells embellish the braided fiber and it measures 4.5” in width and height. The tusks have a wonderful patina from age and wear.
A dramatic boar’s tusk pectoral from the Boiken culture of Papua New Guinea. Cassowary feathers anchor this fiber and nassa shell pectoral with five slivers of boar’s tusk lashed together, and two more tusks attached to the braided neck cord. Please see the finely woven pouch on the back that contains fragments of special shells or stone (www.zkta.com, 2008)
This triangular pectoral of dog's teeth and nassa shells is from the Sassoya area (Boiken culture) of Papua New Guinea. It measures 9" long and has 23" of woven string for the neck, not visible in photos. It hangs on a 6" hardwood stick. It was created in the early to mid-20th century.
Bibliography
atlas.mapquest.com
www.coincoin.com
www.everyculture.com
everything-everywhere.com
mastersonsantafe.com
www.pica-org.org
rodolphepilaert63.wordpress.com
www.tribal-explorer.com
http://www.zkta.com/tribal_art_archive.htm
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