A cowrie, or any natural object, can be valued in a number of ways. There’s the obvious metric, price, which for cowries is inextricably tied to their beauty. The most magnificent cowries are ...

Object Details Description Small seashells have many characteristics that make them ideal monetary objects. They are durable, portable, and difficult to imitate. One species of cowrie shell is known ...

We asked Leal to show us some of the more unique shells in the museum's collection. For this visit, he chose five shells that we will feature today through Friday (March 28) on our websites.

Cowries, or leho in Hawaiian, are one of the most widely collected sea shells. Of the 200 known variations of cowries in the world, 35 come from Hawaii; nine of these exist nowhere else in the world.

Today’s WoW Cypraea tigris, commonly known as the tiger cowrie, is a beautiful marine gastropod from our diverse invertebrates collection. The tiger cowrie is a species of large sea snail that lives ...

The history of the cowrie shell dates back centuries. According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the earliest record of cowrie shells were found in 14th century Africa.

Calpurnus verrucosus, also known as the umbilical egg shell, is a species of sea snail found off the coast of Queensland and New South Wales, throughout the Western Pacific Ocean and off the coast of ...

A 23ft (7m) tall bronze cowrie shell has been chosen as a London memorial to the victims of the transatlantic slave trade. The Wake, by Khaleb Brooks, "reclaims the cowrie shell as a symbol of ...

One species of cowrie shell is known as the money shell because it was used so widely for this purpose. Shells circulated as a medium of exchange in Asia, Africa, Oceania, and North America. Location ...