Downtown Africa
Kon Kombo, West Africa
The shells of cowries are usually smooth and shiny and more or less egg-shaped. The round side of the shell is called the Dorsal Face, whereas the flat underside is called the Ventral Face, which shows a long, narrow, slit-like opening in certain kinds of exoskeleton (aperture), which is often toothed at the edges. The narrower end of the egg-shaped cowrie shell is the anterior end, and the broader end of the shell is called the posterior. The spire (apart of a coiled shell) of the shell is not visible in the adult shell of most species but is visible in juveniles, which have a different shape from the adults.
This is a cowrie headdress picture. The Cowrie shells came originally from the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean. They were used as currency in many areas of West Africa. Olaudah Equiano tells of being sold for 172 cowrie shells and the Classical Chinese character for money originated as a stylized drawing of a Maldivian cowrie shell. Words and characters concerning money, property, or wealth usually have this as a radical. Before the Spring and Autumn period, the cowrie was used as a type of trade token awarding access to a feudal lord’s resources to a worthy vassal. Cowrie shells were also used as decorations on precious objects in Africa to denote wealth and position.
