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Necklace Money   Before the introduction of coins and currency, the people of Malaita in the Central Solomons used strings of hand-drilled, hand-polished shell beads. Even today these beautfully crafted strings of Shell Money are accepted as payment for store items in the outer islands. Malaita still has a charted bank that handles transactions in shell beadwork. We don't recommend that you try to pay your hotel bill in Honiara with our shell money, but we also don't think that once you put on one of these handsome necklaces you will ever want to part with it, even if the alternative is spending your vacation washing dishes in the Solomon Mendana hotel kitchen. We have several different types of shell money, single strands, complex strands and shell pendants. Most of these are in black, orange, and white. And we have a few in the prized deeper red. Both men and women love wearing these.   simple strand (SM1)$15 complex strand (SM2) $20 Single strand with spiral shell pendant (SM3) $25 Any of the above in deeper red colour, at double the price (Note: this type of shell is rarer and may not always be available.) TO OUR CUSTOMERS: Nga Taumako love to look at photos! If you like our products, send us a picture of you or your family using them. Also, tell us how you use them. We shall be happy to pass your messages on to the craftspeople.

Updated 11/15/01