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• Auction House:
  Theodore Bruce
• Sale Name:
  Timed Online Auction | The Todd Barlin Collection of Oceanic African & Asian Art
• Sale Date:
  05 Dec 2022 ~ 6pm (AEDT)
• Lot #:
  9042
• Lot Description:
  Two Fine Old Polynesian Shell Wealth Belts Mortlock Island
  Together with a Fine Old Tiny Shell Money Necklace Strands Called Barafe from Malaita Island, Solomons. These amazing finely made shell belts show the great skill of the artists, each shell is pierced so that they can be tied to the belt so the shells stand up straight in a row that give it the unique look. Here the two belts are using different two different types of shells.
  L 105 - 125 cm [Wealth Belts], 57 cm [Money Necklace]
• Provenance:
  The Todd Barlin Collection of Oceanic Art
• Notes:
  Mortlock Island also known as the Marqueen Islands which are a small isolated atoll off the east coast of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. Takuu is one of the Polynesian outliers' cultures which are situated outside of the Polynesian Triangle. The people of Takuu have traditionally placed great value on the retention of their indigenous practices and religious sites. To protect Takuu from outside influences, the Ariki (chief) banned Christian missionaries for the last 25 years. Only four researchers have been permitted to spend time on the islands in that time. The ban was only lifted in the last five years, as young islanders who had lived and studied on the Papua New Guinea mainland returned to their homeland. The Fine Old Shell Money Necklace called Barafe made of tiny shell money discs each individually mounted on bamboo cane (five strands tied together) these are all important types of traditional Wealth that families owned and used for bridal payments or other types of traditional payments, the tiny shell discs take hundreds of hours to make.
• Estimate:
  A$300 - 500
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Tribal

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.