Found on eBAY_ Santa Cruz USA

Interestingly this necklace is not being described as being "Aboriginal". Nonetheless, The Companion To Tasmanian History written by Patsy Cameron, a Tasmanian Aboriginal Elder, is quoted to suggest that it may be – as it could be if there were any provenance to support that idea.

The seller has been contacted via eBAY and we await further information about the necklace and any provenance information that may be available. Here are some extracts from the response ..."Thank you for the information on the necklaces, I have learned so much after posting them on Ebay ... I have an antique & jewelry shop ... I was at a local auction and the necklaces were in a bag of jewelry I was bidding on. I love shells myself and I thought these were striking, they are so fluid and beautifully strung. I hope I have not misrepresented the necklaces as being Aboriginal, I had done some research on line, and a couple of my customers who are collectors thought they were."

This it seems this is consistent with the experience of many eBAY sellers especially those living outside Australia. Given that Tasmanian Shell Necklaces have "Icon Heritage Status" if made by Indigenous Tasmanians it is likely that more will come onto the market. Some unscrupulous sellers may even claim that their necklaces are indeed made by a Tasmanian Aboriginal maker. It may well have been BUT there seems that there is no reliable way of knowing this (well not yet) unless the provenance to support the claim is impeccable. The search continues.

Tasmanian Aboriginal Shell Necklaces Win Icon Status inTasmania

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What's in it for anyone if something is dubbed an "icon"? It seems that the National Trust thinks that there is something in it for them, and maybe so. The long and short of this kind of thing is that there is some kind of marketing imperative involved. That's alright so far as that goes but when you look at the list and read the rhetoric that comes with the announcement of such things there has to be a tinge of doubt about the sentiments that may be found lurking around somewhere.

Among the disparate mix of 2009's Tasmanian Heritage Icons there are the "shell necklaces made by Indigenous Tasmanians". In wording the nomination like this there seems to be an acknowledgement that there has long been some unarticulated background knowledge that not all shell necklaces made in Tasmania had or have Aboriginal authenticity.

It could be difficult working out whether or not you are looking at "an icon." Well not really if the there is no clear provenance or certificate of authenticity it seems that the safest thing to do is assume that it doesn't have the credibility that would enable it to be a 'Tasmania Heritage Icon.'

For contemporary work this is something that can be arranged relatively easily but it gets to be whole lot more complex when it comes to Antique & Vintage examples.

NEWS LINKS

• [1 – Mercury H'bt 12.11.09 – Bread, honey icon aim]
• [2 – ABC: 9.11.09 – Tasmanian 'icons' recognised]
  
• [3– Advocate – 9.11.09 Cradle Mountain is `choice' with kids]
• [4 _ ABC: 09.11.09 - Icons Listed ]

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."
  

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

Found on eBAY: Maireener Shell Necklace – UK

NOTE: Interestingly the words "Maireener, Tasmanian or Aboriginal" do NOT appear in the description of this piece. They have been used commonly on eBAY in recent times. for necklaces that look like this one Indeed, so commonly that there is a case for the proposition the words are used in a 'value adding exercise' by eBAY sellers.

These shells almost certainly originated in Tasmania and the necklace is typical of necklaces of late 19th & early/mid 20th C commercial production that have been attributed Aboriginal cultural production.

If the circa 1920s is near the mark, this necklace way well have been a part of M M Martins production that was being exported out of Tasmania around that time and earlier. If in fact it was exported to the UK in the 1950s, which it may have been, it may well have been a part of Bertie May's production – more information is coming to light in relation to his operation in the 1950s .

Equally, it may well be an example of 20th C Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural production from the Furneaux Islands. Without clear provenance it is becoming increasingly difficult distinguish between 19th & early/mid 20th C commercial necklace production and Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural production – 19th/20th C.

Typically eBAY sellers have very limited information in regard to provenance when requested to provide any information at all in regard to how they came by these necklaces. This is also the case for when such necklaces turn up at antique auctions in Tasmania.

Information Request: October 09

The question of AUTHENTICITY arises yet again. Here it is relatively clear that the shells are:

1. maireener, Rainbow Kelp, Phasianotrochus irisodontes, shells;
2. relatively mature shells – albeit that due to the vagaries of photographic documentation it is not possible absolutely specific here;
3. more likely to have been collected (commercially harvested?) in Tasmanian waters than elsewhere;
4. natural shells found in Tasmanian waters – almost certainly this necklace has not been dyed;
5. shells of the kind used by Aboriginal necklace makers in Tasmania – however this necklace's Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural must be considered as ambiguous given its provenance;
6. the shells typically used in the kind of necklace known in Tasmania –late 19th C early 20th C – as 'Hobart Necklaces' – this necklace may indeed be such a necklace;
7. typical of the kind shells found in necklaces thought to have been made by Bertie May or even M M Martin – both non-Aboriginal makers Martins, 1875 to 1930s?, Bertie May, late 1940s - 1960s? and Bertie May was known to dye his necklaces.

As above, the shells are almost certainly 'rainbow kelp shells' or ‘maireener’ shells – not mariner. This kind of necklace is beginning to appear on eBAY and elsewhere described as "Tasmanian Aboriginal Maireener Shell Necklaces."

It seems that the word ‘maireener’ has won currency on the Internet most likely via Google Searches etc. In palawa kani (Tasmanian Aboriginal language) the word ‘maireener’ has survived in palawa lore and most frequently until recently used to describe shells. ‘maireener’ also has currency among Tasmanian Aboriginal makers as the word for the string of shells and possibly 'necklaces' of other materials as well. An 1993 example of the word in use for a 'maireener/necklace' that does not include maireener shells or Rainbow Kelp shells, – Phasianotrochus irisodontes shells – is at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

The word "Aboriginal" is quite important to their value. Contemporary Tasmanian Aboriginal makers work command quite high prices and arguably because of the Aboriginal and Tasmanian narratives these necklaces carry.

However, when it comes to older (Antique & Vintage?) necklaces the likelihood of many of these necklaces being of "Aboriginal cultural production" is diminishing as our research progresses – see point 7

For notes on Aboriginal shell necklace making in Tasmania – CLICK HERE

CALL FOR INFORMATION – Tasmanian Shell Necklaces

SNRN (Shell Necklace Research Network) is seeking information from within the Tasmanian community and further afield in regard to:

1. Any information at all in regard to 19th Century colonial and early 20th Century shell necklace making in Tasmania;

2. To complement the information available in regard to ABORIGINAL makers, the SNRN is looking for information about NON-ABORIGINAL makers in Tasmania such as:

• Arthur Robert Butterfield – watchmaker, jeweller and optician at 51 Elizabeth Street, Hobart circa 1898 – click here for more information;
  
• Mrs Mary Maria Martin (MM The Senior & nee Alexander of L’ton) and specifically information about her Factory(?) at 65 Cascade Road, Hobart – 1875 … shop(?) at 75 Collins Street Hobart from about 1906 until 1908 – her husband Thomas Daniel was reported ass being a tanner? ... M M Martin (MM The Senior) died 1924 aged 79
• Frederick Charles Martin (MM’s son) who it seems ran a branch factory in Honolulu, Hawaii – dates unknown;
• J J Martin (Joseph John & MM’s son) was a jeweller at 83 Collins Street Hobart and possibly in Zeehan at sometime;
• 'Bertie' J May, travel goods and souvenir manufacturer (jewellery & shell necklaces?) – Hobart cica 1946, 1948
• Mary May Martin (MM The Younger) and Ellen Martin who in 1927 were trading as M M Martin & Co, shell manufacturers – Mary May Martin (MM The Younger) died – 13 Nov. 1933, aged 51 – Ellen Ida Martin died in August 1969 and seems Ida had continued to trade until 1948 and possibly into the 1950s;
• Miss Stewart who had a jewellery shop on Brisbane St. in Launceston and it seems she traded in shell necklaces into the 1950s along with other businesses on or near Brisbane St.
  

3. To identifying collectors and collections of shell necklaces in Tasmania and elsewhere outside the TMAG, QVMAG and other public collections throughout Australia.

Very little is known about the people making shell necklaces in Tasmania in the 19th C and early 20th C and less is known about their necklace making. However, it seems that given the scale of production that these makers seemed to be involved in, Tasmanian shell necklaces coming to light at auctions, estate clearances and more recently on eBAY, are quite likely to have been made by a non-Aboriginal maker – 1880 – 1950s(?).

Interesting Information:

• It seems that shell necklaces made in Tasmania/Hobart were marketed internationally(?) as “Hobart Necklaces” – possibly this was the basis of ‘The Martin Family’s enterprise??
• The ‘maireneer’ shells (misunderstood as mariner of seaman connections) are being described as that on eBay currently and somewhat surprisingly. They have been known as that in the wider Tasmanian community for about 10 years but not so widely. However, it is a word that has never lost its currency in the Aboriginal community;
  
• It seems that some people in Tasmania made shell necklaces on their "summer holidays at the coast on wet and windy days” in the 1950s and conceivably before that too – and maybe since?
• Shell necklaces are quintessential exemplars of ‘TASMANIANA’ along with Huon Pine, Tasmanian Tigers, etc.
• It was thought that Tasmaniana included “apple seed necklaces” (some even considered the possibility of Aboriginal people making them) BUT it turns out that there are NO APPLE SEED NECKLACES, rather they are IPIL SEED ( the seed of a kind of tropical acacia) necklaces and made in the Philippines – many of which were imported into Tasmania as “hippy beads” (?) in the 1970s. ... click here for more information
  

Any information confirming information above OR information to the contrary would be welcomed by the network.

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Contact information – eMail: shellnecklaces@7250.net

eBAY Find – Maireener Neclace, Southern UK

The seller here did "not know much more about this fine vintage necklace other than it came from an estate in south England with some other vintage jewellery ... it's stunning quality and such a special piece it came in the jewellery box as pictured with an English manufacturers retail stamp ... I have sent many mother of pearl items to Australia ... [this necklace]deserves to be housed in a museum."

The 'Art Deco' reference here may be a useful clue or may turn out to be something of a 'red herring'. In Tasmania such necklaces did have a kind of fashion currency in the late 1940-50s as "Tweed & Twinset accessories." The necklaces have had souvenir currency since G. A. Robinson's time in Tasmania – 1830s. It is also very likely that these shell necklaces were being exported to the UK between the two World Wars by the Martin family, [1] and possibly other makers as well, in relatively large numbers.

There is circumstantial evidence for the maker's description. However, it is clear that the shells came from Tasmania given that their distribution is confined to Tasmanian and Bass Strait waters.

Found via eBAY _ Maireener necklace in the USA

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Click on an image to enlarge

It is truly amazing that this necklace has turned up in the USA. In Tasmania they have been regarded as being rare albeit that Aboriginal women are making them again but not in large numbers.

As will be noted from earlier posts there is the possibility that necklaces like this one were made in quite large numbers in Tasmania by non-Aboriginal makers from the late 1870s. and up until the 1950s(?).

Evidence is beginning to appear that suggests that some of these necklaces were being exported and that either shells or necklaces or both were being exported to Hawaii early in 20th Century.

Watch this space for developments.