Wealth Carried in Strand

Measured in hands, not accounts

A fathom of red Chama shells set bride-price, tribute, and blood debt across Malaita for centuries.

Stringing is the grammar

Disc spacing, shell sequence, and strand length encode value with the precision of a written ledger.

Inlay is contract

Nautilus chips set into tomoko hulls marked war canoes as communal property, never held by one man.

Iridescence is the signature

Each shell's lustre shifts with angle and light — a counterfeiting guard older than milled coins.