Shell money

Museum number:
1-1573
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21010001573
Alternate number:
157 (original number)
Accession number:
Acc.17 and Acc.86
Description:
Dentalium shells, one string of 13 (7 missing); fiber string with red cotton cloth at one end. Shells wrapped at wide end with snakeskin.
Donor:
Phoebe Apperson Hearst
Collection place:
Northwestern California
Verbatim coll. place:
California
Culture or time period:
Yurok
Collector:
Alfred L. Kroeber
Collection date:
1901
Taxon:
Dentaliidae
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Shell money
Function:
7.4 Non-issued Media of Exchange, Symbolic Valuables, and Associated Containers
Accession date:
1903 and November 20, 1901
Context of use:
Money.
Department:
Native California (archaeology and ethnology)
Dimensions:
5 centimeters
Comment:
Photo: 15-8666. Published: AAE XXIV, 7, pl 119j. "Note: one string of 7 shells found in bottom of tray with label "Spec. No. lost, 1935." Description: Dentalium shells, one string of 7; wide end of each shell wrapped in snakeskin; fiber string with red cotton cloth at one end, white at other; L ea ca 5.0 cm
Loans:
S1975-1976 #43: California Academy of Sciences (December 16, 1975–March 23, 1978)
Legacy documentation:
Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Shell money, accession number 1-1573, described as Dentalium shells, one string of 13 (7 missing); fiber string with red cotton cloth at one end. Shells wrapped at wide end with snakeskin.Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Shell money, accession number 1-1573, described as Dentalium shells, one string of 13 (7 missing); fiber string with red cotton cloth at one end. Shells wrapped at wide end with snakeskin.

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