Yar

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Means of payment

Such mother-of-pearl bowls were used on Yap Island as a means of payment for specialist services, such as healing or tattooing. They also functioned as a return gift if food was given to a group or village on special occasions. They were classified as less valuable within the profusion of currencies on Yap - including the famous »stone money« - because it was abundant across the islands as a raw material. Shell money from large mother-of-pearl shells that had to be imported, on the other hand, was deemed highly valuable.

Data Provider
Museen Freiburg Show original at data provider

Cataloguing data

Object type
Zahlungsmittel
Material/Technique
Shell, Coconut fibre
Current location
Museum Natur und Mensch
Inventory number
II/0768

Provenance and sources

  • Change of legal title:
    Purchase
    when
    05.09.1922
  • Change of physical control or legal title
    where
    Caroline (location/origin)
    Yap (location/origin)
    Oceania (location/origin)
    Micronesia (location/origin)
    who
    Karl Dreher - Collectors
  • Assignment to a curated holding:
    Oceania

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC0 1.0 DEED
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