Cowrie Bone imitation

Shell money is among the oldest form of currency and has been used by several civilizations for trade purpose. As the name suggests, it was originally made with shell; specifically shells of Cypraea moneta, also commonly called Cowrie, a small sea snail which gave its common name to this form of money.

Due to shell shortage, later imitations were made with bone, bronze or jade. There is still some debate regarding the use of these imitations as burial artefacts rather than trade purpose.

Despite the impossibility to precisely assign dates to the bone imitations, generally accepted dates range from the early Zhou dynasty to the 7th century BC.