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Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)
Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)

Rare “Big Man” Kina & Bamboo Bib Pectoral Ornament or Necklace Currency, Once Worn during Ceremonial Initiation by a Tribal Member from the Highlands Of Papua New Guinea, collected in the late 1900’s. (KINA21)

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Scarce Oceanic art shell jewelry from Papua New Guinea. 

Valuable Mother of pearl, Moka Kina Crescent, mounted on a bamboo pectoral bib

 South Pacific Pectoral Warrior Art

Important money exchange Shell currency, Trade item.

 collected, in the field

ITEM KINA21 

                                                            12" X 3,75"

 Kina shells are used for bride price, blood feud paybacks, wealth displays and exchange festivals as well as for admission to men’s clubs and secret societies 's paper money is named after the Kina shell).

The polished, crescent-shaped shell with 2 drilled holes at each end for the band to be attached is considered a true object of value. Some Kina Shells have a broad woven band, some have a simple cord with pulled up seed capsules, or just a simple carrying cord. This one has rows of bamboo pieces looking like a bib and a chain created from bark or vegetal material twisted into a twine. This piece was used by a chief and we collected it on the premises in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

 We have sold such ornaments to museums.

MEASURES: 12" X 3.75" (FOR PENDANT ALONE)

WHAT IS VERY INTERESTING ABOUT THIS ONE IS THAT IT WAS ACTUALLY TRADED MANY TIMES AND THE EXCHANGES WERE MARKED ON THE SHELL ITSELF, YOU CAN SEE A BUNCH OF PIN HOLES ON PHOTO 5, THAT IS HOW MANY TIMES THIS VALUABLE TRADE ITEM WAS EXCHANGED BETWEEN DIFFERENT TRIBES. IT HAS ITS OWN HISTORY.

Kinas, mother of pearl necklaces, are rare treasures from Papua New Guinea and a sign of wealth and prosperity for its owner,  and they were worn either alone or in multiples for special celebrations when warriors would wear a kina shell pectoral necklace as the focal point of their dress. These pectoral ornaments are made of large mother of pearl moon shaped pieces (the gold-lipped pearl shell: Pinctada maximums) cut into crescent shapes called kina).

 These pectoral are also often tinted with red ochre, and sometimes decorated with small cowry shells set into resin paste (which we have some of as well). 

Shells pieces such as this are still used in traditional ceremonial payments as well as pectoral adornments for special ceremonies: When the Leahy brothers came into the of searching for gold, they found people who valued the gold-lipped pearl shell as much as the miners valued gold. Shells are valuable all over PNG, but especially so in the Highlands where the traditional trading contacts between tribes slowly passed shells from ocean to mountain valleys. 

The tribes from these rarely visited lands have lived in isolation for centuries due to the remoteness of their region and its difficult access. Their dress code has remained primitive for centuries. Traditionally, the men wear no other clothing apart from a penis sheath made of a cultivated gourd and known locally as a “horim” and some simple ornamentation such as string hair nets, bird of paradise feathers and necklaces with boar tusks or cowrie shells.

 We carry many other artifacts we collect direct from the tribes, in East and West Papua and the Trobriands and remote islands of Indonesia.

All our collector and rare items come with pages and pages of research about provenance, and with history of the tribes and photos as well, depending on item and whenever possible. When shipping internationally, we group ship multiple purchases to save you money, and find the best rates available. If you have any questions or want to see research conducted on this piece and photos of tribes, let us know.