40112

"Hippo" Beads, Cowry Shells

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:10.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 420.00 USD
 Hippo  Beads, Cowry Shells
SOLD
30.00USD+ buyer's premium (6.00)
This item SOLD at 2021 Mar 16 @ 07:31UTC-7 : PDT/MST

Lot: 40112
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Title: "Hippo" Beads, Cowry Shells
Description: In West Africa, chiefly Nigeria and Ivory Coast, cattle were purchased in the 20th century with strings of hippopotamus teeth. But they were counterfeits, not made of real teeth at all, but shell pendants from Singapore strung into necklaces. See Opitz, p. 51. Also in this lot is a rotl from Nigeria, a string of 32 overlapping cowry shells. The rotl was a unit of measure worth one pound of copper in pre-colonial times, though later its value fluctuated. See Opitz, 289 (this example pictured at bottom).


Low Estimate: 200
High Estimate: 420
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