Kesa Shell Money from Western Solomon Islands
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Fourteen Kesa shell money, Western Solomon Islands, 18th - 19th century; 'Kesa' is a cylindrical shell wealth that came in different sizes and values. It is old, and is said to have been made by the spirit Pongo. People preserved kesa by wrapping them in ivory palm leaves and burying them in the ground, or by storing them in caves for safety from raids. They came in different denominations, from kalusape, the highest value, possessed by the chiefs. Provenance: Tebbenham collection; Tebbenham was on the Navy Ship the HSM Mohawk 1898 on a punitive expedition to the Western Solomon Islands due to head hunting raids on the neighbouring Islands. Ex B. L. Hornshaw collection (1878-1937); Hornshaw was an avid collector of Pacific and Australian Aboriginal artefacts, he received many of his pieces from people who lived and worked in the Pacific in the late 19th century (14)
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- Ivory - Ivory is a hard white material that comes from the tusks of elephants, mammoth, walrus and boar, or from the teeth of hippopotamus and whales. The ivory from the African elephant is the most prized source of ivory. Although the mammoth is extinct, tusks are still being unearthed in Russia and offered for sale.
Ivory has been used since the earliest times as a material for sculpture of small items, both in Europe and the east, principally China and Japan.
In Asia ivory has been carved for netsuke, seals, okimono, card cases, fan supports, animals and other figures and even as carved tusks.
In the last 200 years in Europe ivory has been used to carve figures, for elaborate tankards, snuff boxes, cane handles, embroidery and sewing accessories, in jewellery and as inlay on furniture. Its more practical uses include being used for billiard balls, buttons, and a veneers on the top of piano keys.
The use and trade of elephant ivory have become controversial because they have contributed to Due to the decline in elephant populations because of the trade in ivory, the Asian elephant was placed on Appendix One of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), in 1975, and in January 1990, the African elephant was similarly listed. Under Appendix One, international trade in Asian or African elephant ivory between member countries is forbidden. Unlike trade in elephant tusks, trade in mammoth tusks is legal.
Since the invention of plastics, there have been many attempts to create an artificial ivory
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