M0018768EA: Cowrie shells threaded on cane strands as a neck ornament, Horn of Africa

Previous title, replaced October 2020: Cowrie shells threaded on cane strands. Currency or bracelet?

Photograph of a neck ornament made of cowrie shells threaded on cane strands. It was purchased at auction by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in 1919 and given accession number A19170. It was donated to the British Museum in 1954 (museum number Af1954,+23.1864). Related images: M0018766EB

August 1961

1 photograph sheet film negative; 10.2 x 12.7 cm

Copyright is held by Wellcome Collection

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2022.

This item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.