4256

Spondylus Shell Bead Strings

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:NA
Spondylus Shell Bead Strings
Lot: 4256
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Title: Spondylus Shell Bead Strings
Description: Modern string containing spondylus spines, black and white shell beads, and stones. Spondylus shells were an important trade item across the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile from the Andean Formative Period, 1,800-100 B.C. to the Moche Culture (100 B.C. to 700 A.D.), according to Justo Cáceres Macedo, Prehispanic Cultures of Perú (Lima, 2007), but monetary use is uncertain. In Lois Sherr Dubin, The History of Beads (New York, 1987), an "Ica" culture is mentioned (not referenced in Macedo), that used spondylus beads c. 1100 A.D. The Incas are said to have traded them to the Mayas about 1400, who used the beads as a medium of exchange. See Opitz, p. 64. Also included is an old string of about 100 chaquira beads made from spondylus shells from 3000 B.C. to the 16th century and thought to have been used as money; they are found in tombs. See Opitz, p. 105.
Low Estimate: 650
High Estimate: 1350
Pedigree Collection: