Comprised of cowrie shells, the collar was elegant and a unique take on garbs worn during monumental, history-defining moments. For many of us stateside Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a moment to ...

1,200 BC: Cowrie Shells The first use of cowries, the shell of a mollusc that was widely available in the shallow waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, was in China. Historically, many ...

These shells were made by elongated egg cowries, Volva volva. This parasitic species of mollusc lives and feeds on the polyps of other invertebrates, such as coral. Their bodies often match those of ...