Sperm whale tooth with cord of plaited grass. [El.B 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 20/9/2005]

Collection type: Object
Description: Sperm whale tooth with cord of plaited grass. [El.B 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 20/9/2005]
Geographical reference: Fiji
Oceania > Melanesia > Fiji
Person: Field collector Arthur Charles Hamilton Gordon; PRM source Julia Maclear
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1891
Date collected: 1873 - 1876 [Challenger] and 1879 - 1891 [other surveying work]
Acquisition information: Donated: 1909
Materials and processes: Material Whale Tooth Animal, Material Grass Fibre Plant, Process Plaited
Dimensions: Length: max 137 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1909.30.82
Research and responses: Examined on 14 June 2012 by Fergus Clunie who noted the local name for this sperm whale tooth neck ornament is tabua. The construction is twisted pandanus leaf cord fastened to the tooth. There are local drilled holes at root end of tooth, which indicates it was originally strung to sisi type necklace. Holes were later drilled down from above the tooth using a metal drill so that it could be strung as a tabua. The smoked patina has largely faded on the side which has been exposed to light [this object is currently on display] but is better represented on the other side of the tooth, where it has been protected from the light. Fergus knows that the collector, Sir Arthur Gordon, arrived in Fiji in 1875 and left in 1880. [ZM 14/06/2012]