Lot 1143

Description

Solomon Islands, primitive money known as 'Kapkap'; diameter 100 mm, with many different shells attached. Very fine and scarce. (4)

Ex collection of G.C. Heyde and now from his family. [Kapkap were traded from one island to another and used as a form of money in trade. They were used for a variety of occasions and worn by many people from chiefs in some areas to girls at an initiation ceremony. In some areas they were worn as breast ornaments. They were made from many different shells. Sometimes the open work piece mounted as the shell base was made from tortoise-shell with a variety of intricate carved styles. They were worn in the Western Solomon Islands (where Heyde obtained them) and were worn as head and breast ornaments on ceremonial occasions and in battle. In Bougainville the kapkaps were worn as breast ornaments and in puberty ceremonies in Northern Bougainville by young girls. (See Opitz p.172-4).