Boar Tooth Snake Bracelet, Vanuatu Oceania Currency, 20th Century

Snake-shaped bracelet with scales, 20th century Diam. inside 6.5cm (head and tail end glued) These teeth are used as currency. these ornaments are worn around the arms and on the chest. They have great symbolic and sacred value. The pig is at the heart of Vanuatu's traditional social system. Raised with the aim of obtaining this rare tooth that we exchange for a transfer of rank or to be initiated in the secrets or to get married, to pay a debt ... The rank system makes it possible to increase the power of the world of living and influence in that of the dead. The person is authorized to wear the elements of adornment corresponding to his rank. The curved Boar's tooth is one of the emblems of Vanuatu. It appears on its national flag