Shells used to be used instead of money almost all over the globe. The shell most used was the money cowry (Cypraea moneta) found in the Indian Ocean and along the African coast. Shells make good money since they are durable easy to transport and are difficult to replicate and forge. In China cowries were such an important part of currency that all Chinese characters relating to money incorporate the character for the cowry.

In the eighteenth century the Dutch East India Company increased its revenues by trading cowries for spices gems and exotic animals which it took back to Europe. Cowries were used in the slave trade in Africa and as currency in Australia and the South Pacific Islands. Some North American Indians strung hollow tusk shells onto threads making currency that was valued by its length rather than quantity. In Papua New Guinea this type of shell money is still used today mainly for weddings. On the island of East New Britain it is still used to pay local taxes!

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