Found on eBAY_ Maireener shell necklace - Australia, Melbourne

It’d be interesting to know about any additional provenance for this necklace. It appears to be in very good condition.As for the rarity of these necklaces it now seems that this kind of necklace in particular were made ‘commercially’ in quite large numbers in the late 19th C early 20th C by non-Aboriginal makers. This was mostly in Hobart it seems – see earlier posts here.

It also seems that during that time the numbers produced were indeed quite large based upon the evidence of a court case in Hobart 1907 where one John Ward was found guilty of stealing approx 100 dozen of what seems to be this kind of necklaces from the Hobart Wharf. More information can be found on all this in earlier posts.

The QUALITY of this necklace here seems to be very good but as with other such necklaces, unless there is clear and unambiguous provenance for its Aboriginal authenticity, increasingly its authenticity should be regarded as “ambiguous” if Aboriginal authenticity is the value determinant.

There are necklaces in collections – private and public, Australian and internatinal – with clear Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural produdution authenticity – contemporary, vintage and antique. However, it now seems that circumstantial evidence by itself would be insufficent to claim "Tasmania Aboriginal authenticity."

Vintage Aboriginal Mairreener Mariner Shell Necklace

Auction Ended 18 Dec, 2009 19:59:34 AEDST – 13 bids Winning bid: AU $405.00

Seller info: scrimshaw01 (99.8% Positive feedback)
Item number: 380186076930 Item location: Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Found on eBAY: Maireener Shells – Australia WA

Interestingly here, the seller also says that "These shells sell for between $2000 and $3000 for a 180 centimetre strand in Australian art galleries." This in combination with other text (see image above) seems to suggest that it is Aboriginal authenticity (evidenced or other) that will be lending value to this item. It is worth noting that the shell necklaces that are bringing the prices suggested here are generally made by contemporary Tasmanian Aboriginal women who are carrying forward a family and cultural tradition. The provenance, and thus the necklace's authenticity, is absolutely clear here. This plus the quality of the necklaces combine and is reflected in the values attributed to them.

The problem that needs to be acknowledged with these items when sold as 'collectibles' and described as either "antique" or "vintage" is that new and unfolding information suggests that circumstantial evidence is by-and-large insufficient to assert Aboriginal authenticity.

If there is clear provenance, and there is within Tasmanian Aboriginal families, circumstance and oral histories can be relied upon to assert authenticity – see earlier posts. The shell necklaces made by Tasmanian Aboriginal people are now regarded as "Cultural Heritage Icon" status in Tasmania but this depends upon Aboriginal authenticity.

The seller here relies upon museums holding such necklaces in their collections thus by implication suggesting that this can be relied upon in underwriting authenticity. For many of these 'museum necklaces' there is indeed clear authenticity – generally contemporary examples with named makers. Nonetheless, there are some necklaces in various museums – Australia & elsewhere possibly – for which their authenticity is ambiguous.

None of this takes anything away from the quality of the shells or the visual aesthetic appeal of these necklaces. If their 'value' depends on this alone there is no problem. Something is always worth what is paid for on this criteria! However, if value depends upon 'Aboriginal authenticity' there are unresolved issues to be addressed. This is a work in progress.

SOLD
Bidding Ended: 23 Dec, 2009 @ 01:59:01 AEDST
2 Bids & Winning Bid: AU $91.50

Found on eBAY: Shell Necklace – UK

If this necklace is circa 1920s as suggested it is as likely to be a 'Hobart Necklace' as it is to be of Tasmanian Aboriginal production. It now seems that there may have been a number of dealers in Hobart in the 1920s who could have been responsible for the export of this necklace to the UK – and other places it may have traveled to on its way to the UK. Equally it may have arrived in the UK by a variety of other means – as a souvenir, as a gift, etc. etc.

Nonetheless this necklace could have been made by a commercial producer anytime between the late 1800s and up until the 1960s possibly. Of course it may have been made by an Aboriginal woman but without clear provenance that seems unlikely. However, such necklace are still being made by Tasmanian Aboriginal women.

It is interesting however how these necklaces have held 'Tasmanian Aboriginal currency' almost against all odds. Tasmanian Aboriginal people must be among the most 'denied' communities in Australia. In Tasmania at the time that this necklace may have been made (1920s) Truganini's skeleton was on display in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the myth that she was the 'last Tasmanian Aborigine' had popular currency in the Tasmanian community.

The image of Truganini wearing such a necklace is almost ubiquitous in Tasmania – and in its museums up until today. It turns out that Tasmania's museums have played an important part in interpreting and misrepresenting the Truganini story and other aspects of Tasmanian Aboriginal history and cultural production. It is only recently that the full dimension of the decimation and dispossession of Tasmania's Aboriginal people has begun to be approached. Much is left to be told.

The fact that a long way away from Tasmania necklaces such as this one somehow carry the 'Tasmanian story' lends substance to the convenient and a somewhat comfortable (romantic?) vision of Tasmania's colonial history is more than interesting. The fact that it turns up in banal situations like a sale on eBAY, and with no real provenance, has a certain poignancy.

Found on eBAY: Maireener Shell Necklace – Melbourne/AUS

Clearly the seller here had little information available to provide clear provenance – this is typical and has long been so. The price achieved is modest by comparison with similar necklaces made by contemporary Tasmanian Aboriginal women. About two weeks before this sale closed such necklaces with clear Aboriginal provenance were given "Cultural Heritage Icon" status by the National Trust in Tasmania.

The granting of this status seems to do two things:

• Firstly, belatedly acknowledge the Aboriginal cultural continuum embedded in the shell necklaces (maireeners) made by Tasmanian Aboriginal women;
• Secondly, place a new emphasis upon clear Aboriginal provenance when claiming Aboriginal authenticity.

With new information unfolding to do with the commercial production of such necklaces in Tasmania from the late 19th Century up until circa 1960 a new imperative to be clear about authenticity.

Found on eBAY: Maireener Shell Necklace – Australia Qld

From what can be gleaned from the seller's description and the images this necklaces must be regarded as one with ambiguous authenticity. There is nothing sinister in this rather the seller is clearly relying upon information he regarded as reliable – possibly at the time of purchase 1984.

At that time, there is anecdotal evidence that such necklaces were assumed to have been made Tasmanian Aboriginal people – albeit in Tasmania the myth that Truganini was the last of the Tasmanian Aborigines prevailed. In the absence of critical inquiry in the 1980s – Tasmania/Australia – relevant to this cultural material, that may well have seemed a reasonable assumption to make. In the light of more recent information the reliability of information available in the 1980s needs to be questioned and further provenance sought. Sadly, that will not always be available but when it is, typically there are compelling reasons to endorse it.

If this necklace is indeed circa 1950, and there seems little reason to doubt that, it may have been made on the Furneaux Islands by an Aboriginal maker OR in Hobart by an outworker employed by Bertie May or a like dealer in Tasmanian souvenirs. This necklace is consistent with being either.

THE DILEMMA: If this necklace's value depends upon its Aboriginal authenticity its authenticity needs to be established. If that is not possible – as it seems it may not be for a variety reason – there may be a problem if the circumstantial evidence is ambiguous – here it seems to be. The collector here seems to have defaulted to 'the wisdom of the time (1984)' and arguably with relatively good reason.

However, if new information comes to light that might question the balance of probability in regard to the circumstantial evidence, then arguably there has been a paradigm shift and the inquiry is in new territory. The 'John Ward Hobart Necklace Robbery [Trial 1908]' seems to change the circumstantial evidence. Given the number of dealers that may now be identified as a result of the digitisation of colonial newspapers (19th & 20th C) it now seems that:

1. Shell necklaces of the kind illustrated here were being made in relatively small numbers by Tasmanian Aboriginal women for cultural purposes and sometimes to be sold to generate supplementary income – it seems mostly on the Furneaux Islands – and continue to be made by them in various place around Tasmania;
   
2. Shell necklaces of the kind illustrated here were being produced commercially, and in large numbers, by non-Aboriginal makers;
3. These shell necklaces – 'Hobart Necklaces' – were being sold throughout Tasmania and being exported in large numbers to mainland Australia as well as abroad – notably Hawaii;
4. The trade in commercially mass produced 'Hobart Necklaces' seems to have been reasonably lucrative and going on possibly as early as 1860, 1875 certainly, 1875 to WW1 and possibly intermittently between WW1 & WW2 and again post WW2 and possibly into the 1960s.

This information in no way discounts the production of shell necklaces – 'maireeners' – that has been a continuous and evolving cultural practice carried on up until the present by Tasmanian Aboriginal people.

The are two distinct activities going on – one Aboriginal and the other non-Aboriginal – and the relationship between the two is yet to be fully explored. Nonetheless, the ways these necklaces are marketed in the Aboriginal art and antique markets is an issue. It is clear that the Aboriginal status adds value to these necklaces. This has been recently reinforced in Tasmania by the National Trust nominating "the shell necklaces made by Tasmanian Aboriginal women" as Cultural Heritage Icons. Indeed this can be taken as wider community acknowledgement that a necklace's Aboriginal status does in fact add value to it.

Auction Ended

Dec 14, 2009 – 09:51:38 AEDST

8 bids – Winning bid AU $124.00

FOUND IN TASMANIA: Bertie May Necklaces With Provenance

This necklace comes with a clear provenance plus first hand information and observations. The owner received it as a gift from Bertie May in Hobart in the 1950s. As a young girl she was enlisted to help her grandmother string such necklaces. Her grandmother lived outside Hobart and the owner reports that:

• Her grandmother strung rainbow kelp shell necklaces for Bertie May to supplement the family's income;

• Bertie May regularly supplied her grandmother with relatively large quantities of shells in plastic bags;

• Approximately every two weeks her grandmother would deliver her latest batch of strung necklaces to an address in Macquarie St. Hobart and on school holidays she would go with her to his house/warehouse – it seems that he only sold his products wholesale;

• She recalls that her grandmother was paid one shilling and sixpence for short necklaces and two shillings and sixpence for long necklaces.

This necklace comes from another source in Tasmania and with a clear provenance plus first hand information and observations. The owner received it as a gift from an Uncle by marriage who was a farmer on the Tasman Peninsular in the 1940s-1950s and who collected shells for Bertie May to supplement his farm income.

As a young woman she moved to 'The Peninsular' to farm with her husband and Uncle. Her Uncle gave her this necklace along with others he acquired from Bertie May and made with shells he had harvested for him. The Uncle's shell harvesting technique is a matter of family history and the story goes that he:

• Collected 'Rainbow Kelp' shells (maireener shells) – Phasianotrochus irisodontes – IMAGE BACK LINK – for his Hobart based Tasmanian souvenir manufacturing and wholesaling enterprise.
  
• Had a flat bottomed boat from which he cut kelp from the kelp beds relatively close to the shore;
• Lay the kelp out on the beach in the sun on a canvas(?) to dry thus collecting the shells that dropped from the weed as they died;
• Gathered the shells together and stored where the blowflies were allowed to lay their eggs on the decaying fish;
• Allowed the blowfly's maggots to eat out the shellfish thus 'cleaning' them ready for further treatment;
• Was paid ten shillings a quart (0.95 Litres) of shells, circa 1947, by Bertie May – a 1918 report by Earnest Mawle in the "The Australian Zoologist" – Vol 1 Part 6 Nov. 1918 – on this industry indicated that "a collector can obtain nine quarts of shells per day."
  

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

IMAGE & DATA LINK: Shells Used in Contemporary Aboriginal necklace Making

Found via eBAY _ Vintage Tasmanian Kelp Shell/Maireener Necklace – Australia

Click on an image to enlarge it

Click on an image to enlarge it

As for the final selling price for these necklaces we believe that they were moderate no matter what their cultural status may be – Aboriginal, colonial, post WW2 commercial. Whatever their cultural context these necklaces are clearly very ‘collectable’. The restringing cost for such a necklace would not be a great deal less than the price realised.

Indeed, contemporary Maireener Necklaces made by Tasmanian Aboriginal women, and where authenticity and provenance is absolutely clear, these works command prices in excess of most 'commercially produced' “antique” or “vintage” items on eBAY – this is at least the case for those we have watched.

There is further information coming to hand and for those interested in the subject please contact us and we will keep you informed.

BACK LINK TO AN EARLIER POST

For more information please contact the network Email: shellnecklaces@7250.net