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1889.34.4

Pendant of the base of a shell with spiral on one side, on string.

1889.34.4

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Collection type
Object
Description
Pendant of the base of a shell with spiral on one side, on string.
Person
Field collector Alfred Cort Haddon
Field collector Cambridge Torres Straits Expedition
PRM source Alfred Cort Haddon
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1888
Date collected
?1888
Acquisition information
Donated: 1889
Materials and processes
Material Shell, Material String, Process Perforated
Dimensions
Diameter: max 78 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1889.34.4
Research and responses

In the collections of the Australian Museum in Sydney are four very similar shell breast ornaments or dibi-dibi (museum accession numbers E.17346 to E.17349), which are made from the ground, circular tip of the Conus leopardus shell and were collected for the Museum in 1907 by C. Hedley and A.R. McCulloch. On page 80 of the Technical Reports of the Australian Museum (2005) Number 19 they are described as 'Worn on the breast by men and women as personal ornament'. [ZM 26/05/2015]

Search terms: Ornament, Religion, Religious Object