4130

Giant Alor Island Moko

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:NA
Giant Alor Island Moko
SOLD
260.00USD+ buyer's premium (52.00)
This item SOLD at 2021 Mar 23 @ 11:23UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
Lot: 4130
Header:
Title: Giant Alor Island Moko
Description: Huge bronze kettledrums or gongs (mokos) were the most highly valued money of Alor Island, Indonesia. These drums originated in the Dông So’n culture of North Viet Nam circa 1500-500 B.C., but it was only much later on Alor that they turned into money. Mokos were an indispensable component of bride price. Lending and borrowing mokos kept the men of Alor so busy that they had no time for gardening or physical labor, which was done by women.
The Dutch Colonial Government attempted to abolish the moko system in 1914, when it banned their import and had 1,600 that were turned in for tax payments crushed and melted. However, the Alorese held many back. Mokos are used for purchase of brides even now. See Quiggin Plate 25 and Fig. 117 (a), pp. 267-70, Opitz, p. 226. This example shows signs of actual circulation. Illustrated in NNP edition, https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/541824, p. 366, upper right.

Low Estimate: 700
High Estimate: 1600
Pedigree Collection: