Rare feather currency roll "manahau" or "tevau" ·  Solomon Islands - Santa Cruz Islands, Ndende · ID: 3053450

Description

red feathers of the red-scarlet honey-eater, sap (glue), plant fibre, bark, beads,

The original value of a new piece of feather currency was determined by its size and the richness of colour. Feathers from about three hundred honey-eater birds were used for each band, and the average length (ca. 4.5 m) involved five to six hundred hours of work.

The feather money owed its high monetary value to the labor-intensive effort required to produce it.

Traditional use of the feather roll as bride price continued until the 1970s. Men wishing to marry would usually be required to compensate the bride’s father with up to ten rolls.

Feather rolls were already scarce in 1911. In 1962 only five makers could still be found and in 1967 only two were left. Today the manufacture of feather rolls has completely ceased.

Comparing literature

Hurst, Norman, Power and Prestige, Cambridge 1996, p. 60 Conru, Kevin, Solomon Islands Art, Milan 2008, p. 190