Solomon Islands Shell Money
Traditional currency of the Solomon Islands, made from small discs ground from shell — the red money of Malaita being prized above all — drilled and strung on fibre into long strings and rolled coils. Shell money is still exchanged in bride-price, compensation, feasts and chiefly obligations, its value fixed by the species of shell, the fineness of the grinding and the length of the string. On the Reef Islands and Santa Cruz the most spectacular form is red feather-money: rolls of scarlet feathers from the cardinal honeyeater glued to a fibre base, so prized that only the greatest payments wer