ARTS OF AFRICA, OCEANIA AND THE AMERICAS

Of all the artefacts produced in the Pacific, one of the most stunning has to be the red feather currency from the Santa Cruz Islands, lying 250 miles south east of the Solomon Islands.

Made from around 50,000 to 60,000 red feathers of the honey sucker bird (Myzomela cardinalis). A process that involved three specialists to make. Trappers concealed sap covered twigs amongst tree branches to trap the birds so that their feathers could be plucked, and then released back into the wild. Small platelets were made from the feathers of the grey pigeon (Ducola pacificae), using sap from the paper mulberry tree as glue, and then a centimetre of red feathers was glued to one side of the platelet. The third specialist would then bind the platelets on two fibre cords, overlapping them so that only the red feather show. There are around five hundred platelets per currency.

These remarkable currencies kept their colour, because they weren’t worn or put on display. They were stored inside, often wrapped in large dry leaves and some have been found with ancestral skulls placed on top of them. Their value was determined by size and the richness of colour and used in the purchase of brides, fine pigs, and certain forms of labour. Each would have had a different value and a session of formalised bargaining involving the close examination of each coil would have taken place before agreeing a transaction.

This roll was collected in the early 1980s by the vendor whilst on Temotu, directly from one of the local elders/chiefs whose family had owned it for generations and as customs have changed over the years, so to has the need to retain these once valuable and beautiful forms of currency.

Will Hobbs

+44 (0)1722 339752 | wh@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

Opposite: A Santa Cruz feather currency 90cm wide

Estimate £8,000–12,000

Above left: The Rothschild seahorse chenets

Sold for £62,500

Above:

A rare Chinese cloisonné landscape vase Sold for £75,000

Left: The Rothschild Halton Salon tables Sold for £65,000

Below left: Head of Department, Mark Yuan-Richards, with the Rothschild Milanese armourer’s cabinet Sold for £50,000

Below:

A fine Italian embossed and gilded steel parade shield

Sold for £60,000

Mark Yuan-Richards myr@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

+44 (0)1722 411854

Neil Grenyer ng@woolleyandwallis.co.uk

+44 (0)1722 446974

We are currently accepting consignments for our Summer Furniture, Clocks and Works of Art sale which will take place on the 5th July, the closing date for entries is Friday 28th April 2023.