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Money Substitutes & Favoured Trade Items of Torres Straits and Papuan Gulf

19 Lime Spatulas Bone


Lime SpatulaS Papuan Gulf area, early 20th century. The larger was
collected by Richard Aldridge in the Orokolo Bay area. 337mm long.
The second comes from the collection of Eberhardt Voigt (1920-
1983) Germany and confirmed as Gulf by Aldridge. 310mm. Fronts
and backs shown.
Very little has been written about the lime
spatulas of the Papuan Gulf. They are rare and there
do not appear to be enough of them in existence to be
able to give a "standard” style but a few lovely
examples can be seen in Michael Hamson's book.
They are presumed to be valuable and
monetary as is the case in other areas of New Guinea.
It is interesting to note the proud previous
owner's initials cut into the bone shaft of the larger
spatula - perhaps copying the idea of carving one's
own totem mark on a trophy skull taken or again
possibly - simply "leaving one's mark" of ownership.
The eating of betel nut does not appear to have
reached the Torres Strait or Kiwai area. The use of
betel was mentioned in early times for Elema and, in
the general Papuan Gulf area, the beautiful carved
wooden betel nut holders are well known by lovers of
tribal art. Also the myths of the area tell of a
legendary hero originating the trade of betel nut
between the Gulf and the eastern areas in "time
before”.

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Money Substitutes & Favoured Trade Items of Torres Straits and Papuan Gulf

32 Boars’ Tusks Imitated in Clam


Shell.
Imitation Boars’Tusks of Torres Strait and the Papuan Gulf area,
early 20th century. Both were collected by Richard Aldridge in the
Kerema and Orokolo Bay area. Maximum diameters of 97mm and
87mm.

Artificially deformed pig tusks had a very high


monetary value in the area of the Papuan Gulf and
Torres Strait. They were also very scarce and, in the
Torres Strait, had to be imported from New Guinea.
Haddon advises that, perhaps for these
reasons, the boars’ tusks were imitated by the natives
of south eastern New Guinea who carved similarly
shaped items from trochus and clamshell.
Highly valued in the Torres Strait the boars
tusks, shown here and imitated in clamshell, were
called Miskor Sauad (Miskor being the name for
clamshell and Sauad the name for the tusks). These
were highly valued and an important money
substitute. The amount of work to make such a piece
using stone age tools is mind boggling.
Refer to my previous entry (Plate 13) on
Boar’s Tusks for more information on actual tusks
from the area.

65c
Money Substitutes & Favoured Trade Items of Torres Straits and Papuan Gulf

33 Tortoiseshell Pendant Sabagorar


Tortoiseshell pendant Mer Island, Torres Strait, 19 th century. From
the the Estate of the late David Baker. 175mm greatest length.
Extremely rare.

An extremely low number of these are found


in private hands – most are valued items in some of
the world’s greatest Museums. Practically all have
been collected in the 19th century.
The Sabagorar is a highly valued bridal
pendant from Mer Island in the Torres Strait. These
double fishhook shaped ornaments could be worn on
the front or the back, but only by married women.
They were worn for one or two months before the
wedding feast and the older married women also
wore them on special occasions, but never during
widowhood.
The hook was usually incised with geometric
designs infilled with white and red ochre, and several
may have been worn together. The triangular piece of
white shell called “O” was often worn as a sign of
engagement and later incorporated into the fishhook
pendant upon marriage.
A very similar example to this one was
collected by A C Haddon in 1889 and is now in the
British Museum.

65a
Money Substitutes & Favoured Trade Items of Torres Straits and Papuan Gulf

Persons who originally collected some of the items.


Carl Hartmann. See Plates 7 and 8. Refer to next page.
Captain W Campbell Thomson. Served on many early sailing and steam
ships. As ship's captain he travelled the Pacific and personally collected many
amazing items some of which were gifts from chieftains such as Thakumbau
(Cakobau). See Plate 23.
Alex Griffiths, founder of the Currumbin Bird Sanctuary in Queensland. His
Papuan Gulf items had been part of his collection since the 1930s and were
on show in his museum for many years. See Plates 17, 21, 22, 25 and 31.
Jack Sweeney. Crocodile shooter, crocodile skin buyer and trader in the area
from the Purari to the Morehead Rivers and from Daru to the top of the Fly
River in the 1950s and 1960s. See Plates 2, 12, 13, 16, 22 and 29.
Richard Aldridge. Author, collector and dealer of high quality and tribal
jewellery from Melanesia, especially Papua New Guinea. Makes many
collecting trips to New Guinea. See Plates 1, 2, 5, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, and
65d.
Peter Hallinan. Collector and dealer of New Guinea art to many of the major
collections and museums of the world. See Plate 1.
Ron Perry. Adventurer, collector and dealer of New Guinea art to many of
the premier collections and museums of the world. His story is told in “Art
Dealer in the Last Unknown" (2011). See Plate 1.
A.L. Crawford. Author, publisher and ethnologist who lived in New Guinea
for a time. See Plate 3.
David Baker. Serving President of the Oceanic Art Society until his death in
2009. He owned the New Guinea Gallery in Sydney and travelled widely
acquiring a significant Oceanic Art collection. He supplied Pacific art works
to many important collections and institutions including the National Gallery
of Australia. See Plate 65b.
Eberhardt Voigt (1920-1983) was born in the town of Myslowice in Silesia.
As a child he collected stamps and coins and later expanded to a wide range
of fields. He began to build his collection in the 1960s and early 1970s, often
buying from German galleries and auction houses. See Plate 19.
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