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Overview
This is a tevau, a coil of highly prized red feathers from the Santa Cruz Islands in the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. Throughout this region in the 19th and 20th centuries, tevau was a form of currency exchanged for services and goods such as canoes, root crops, turtles and pigs. They were also gifted as part of marriage ceremonies.
Materials and decoration
Each tevau was made by skilled specialist craftspeople, who would catch honeyeater birds and collect only four of their very small red feathers. The feathers were carefully attached to overlapping platelets and decorated with shells and fibre. Tevau can contain the red feathers of over 300 birds.
Significance
As well as being a standard currency, the feathered coils are appreciated for their beauty and the work that goes into making them. In 1948, the famous canoe navigator Tevake, from Peleni, exchanged ten turtles for one especially fine tevau. However, the value of the coils declines as the feathers fade.
Acquisition History
This tevau was purchased at auction in 1916.