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PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Rossel Island (Yela), LOT of 2 ndap shell monies

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Ethnographic Start Price:80.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 - 120.00 USD
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Rossel Island (Yela), LOT of 2 ndap shell monies
SOLD
85.00USD+ (17.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2022 Sep 17 @ 16:42UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Rossel Island (Yela), LOT of 2 ndap shell monies, Opitz p.236, Opitz (2011) p.383 (plate examples), 71 and 62mm in length respectively, shaped, polished and holed as part of the traditional preparation; retail value $200, lot of 2 pieces, ex Charles Opitz Collection. Culturally and linguistically distinct from their Austronesian neighbors, the people of Rossel Island boast one of the most complicated monetary systems in the world. There are two main categories of shell money in use, ndap and nko (as well as secondary valuables such as greenstone axes). Ndap are single flat shells of polished Spondylus and are known as men's money, while nko are strings of ten discs made from Chama shell and known as women's money. The former come in 22 different grades, with the high-ranking ones usually smaller and worn to a delicate shape and patina through generations of handling. Those pieces are known by individual names to the islanders, who treated them with religious reverence and reserved them for specific purposes. For instance, number 18 is used in payment for wives, while a number 20 was used as compensation for ritual murder. The higher pieces are loaned, rather than traded, and paid back with interest, sometimes over the span of several years. It has been called a form of prestige currency and is not directly comparable to Western monetary systems.Visit www.traditionalmoney.com for a downloadable copy of Odd & Curious and Traditional Money (Opitz, 2011).