Mendi Shell Currency Necklace

Mendi people, early 20th century, Mendi Valley, Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea

Charming old necklace composed of three cut and finely polished Conus shell halves, their surfaces beautifully softened by long use and handling over generations. Shells were among the most valued forms of traditional wealth in Papua New Guinea—especially in the Highlands, where they had to be traded across great distances from the coast through rugged mountain terrain. Because highland communities had no direct access to the sea, shells were rare, prestigious, and treated as precious valuables.

Shell ornaments served both as ceremonial adornment and as high-value traditional currency, used for bridewealth exchanges, settling land disputes, and honouring important individuals at funerals.

The Mendi inhabit the narrow Mendi Valley of the Southern Highlands. Prior to outside contact—first made with the Australian Administration in 1950—the Mendi lived in dispersed homesteads organised around patrilineal clans. Social life centred on clearings (koma) within clan territories (su), where meetings, rituals, and communal events were held.

Good condition. Wear commensurate with age and use. The vegetal fibre string shows some fraying. Length c. 60,0cm and shells approx. 5,3cm x 5,4cm x 3,2cm. 

Provenance: From a Dutch private collection; reportedly originally from the holdings of a now-closed ethnographic museum and foundation in the Netherlands.

References and further reading:

Mendi Culture and Tradition: a Recent Survey, Theodore Mawe, P.N.G. National Museum Record, no. 10. Boroko, Papua New Guinea: Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, 1985.