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Quahog Shell Bead Necklace image 1
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Lot 2132

Quahog Shell Bead Necklace

7 December 2021, 10:00 PST
Los Angeles

Sold for US$318.75 inc. premium

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Quahog Shell Bead Necklace

Mercenaria mercenaria
Northern Quahog clam species
Coastal waters of the North Atlantic

Before its use in jewelry, the Quahog was used as the nation's first domestic currency. The Wampanoag tribe used a medium of exchange called wampum which consisted of beads made of the shell of the Quahog bivalves. The present necklace consists of twenty-strands of small 3.0mm uniform purple-to-white beads from the shell of the purple-lipped clam Mercenaria mercenaria, completed by a silver clasp, length 23 in.

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