Arfak Conus Shell Disc Currency (Toae)

Arfak people, early 20th century, Bird’s Head Peninsula, Arfak Mountains, West Papua, Indonesia

A magnificent and beautifully aged Conus shell disc currency (toae), finely worked into a flat, perfectly circular pendant with characteristic concentric carving. These discs were traditionally fashioned from the terminal end of a Conus shell, carefully cut and shaped with bamboo knives—an exacting process that speaks to their high cultural and monetary value.

Among the Arfak peoples of the Bird’s Head Peninsula, toae functioned as both currency and ornament, worn suspended as a pendant or inserted as a nose ornament on ceremonial occasions. Their importance resonates far beyond the region: modern Papua New Guinea’s toea coin derives its name from these iconic shell discs, even echoing their pierced form so that coins, like the originals, could be strung together.

Shell valuables were among the most coveted forms of traditional wealth across Papua New Guinea, especially in the remote Highlands. Traveling by complex trade routes from the coast into inland mountain ranges, shells could pass through dozens of hands over hundreds of kilometres—accruing both value and prestige. For communities with no direct access to the sea, such objects were rare treasures. As with other major forms of wealth—pigs, cowries, and kina-shell pectorals—Conus discs held ceremonial, social, and economic significance, used in adornment, dowry payments, dispute settlements, and in honouring the deaths of important clan leaders.

A superb example with excellent age, presence, and ethnographic depth—an outstanding piece of early 20th-century Arfak material culture.

Good condition. Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age and use. Fine smoothed patina. Size approx. 5,9cm x 6,3cm x 0,4cm. 

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

For a similar examples see:

Headband, Pace, Stichting Papua Erfgoed, Accession Number: EA/7/5 (https://www.papuaerfgoed.org/en/EA/7/5)

Headband, Pace, Stichting Papua Erfgoed, Accession Number: EA/279/6 (https://www.papuaerfgoed.org/en/EA/279/6)