New Guinea Jewelry – Toea Necklace, #8167 $90.00

This unique native necklace from the lower Sepik Rivera area is made from woven twine and features an old, small cut clam shell known as a toea – a unit of currency in New Guinea.

This toea, pre-1960s, was likely from the coast or an outlying island on the Sepik Coast. The necklace was collected in Angoram, a village on the lower Sepik River.

Along with the toea, New Guinea shell money consists of the large gold-lip mother of pearl shells known as Kina. Traditionally, shell money was used as bride prices and to settle grievances. Both the kina and the toea are still used in New Guinea.

The toea on this native necklace measures 2 inches in diameter.


#8167 Shell money, Toea, from the lower Sepik River, Papua New Guinea