Tolaï necklace with Nassa shells

Tolaï necklace with Nassa shells on a custom support, comprising countless Nassa shells woven onto natural fibers.

The remarkable thing is that almost all the shells are the same size, so they have a very elegant primitive design.

Who are the Tolaï:

The Tolai tribe is an indigenous people who live in Papua New Guinea ( the island of New Britain) . Their official currency is the Tabu which is a shell currency that is legal tender.

Traditionally, it is children who are tasked with collecting this tiny sea snail, called Palakanoara . Each color has a value. Only the base of the shells is kept to be threaded onto a rattan rod.

Their value also depends on their color: whites and yellows are prized. Blacks are banned.

The Tolai perform many rituals to honor the ocean because that is where their wealth comes from.

Their ceremonies are usually very expensive in shells. For example the Minamai , which marks mourning. The relatives of the deceased throw them armfuls of T abu to ensure the dead a safe passage to the afterlife.

Even brides are bought! During the W arkukul ceremony, the future husband symbolically buys his bride in shell money, the equivalent of 700 euros. " Mi baim em finis" means: "I have already paid" which is the consecrated expression when a man wants to indicate that he is already married.