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Sarawakiana Talk: How much is that in beads? Beads as an early currency.

Posted on 23 June 2011

On
June 23 2011, Madam Heidi
Munan,
the Hon.
Curator of Beads at the Sarawak Museum
gave a two-hour Sarawakiana talk titled ‘How much is that in beads?
Beads as an early currency’ at the Special Collections Room, Level
1, Pustaka Negeri Sarawak.

She highlighted that beads had been
used as currency in cultural and ritual contexts and in many cases,
still serve such purposes. Today, the main application of beads is
for ornamental and decorative purposes and for a wide variety of
creative handicrafts.

Madam Munan also
talked about the history of beads as value objects. Before money was
generally used or available, beads took the place of an informal
currency in many parts of the world. This certainly was the situation
in Borneo in the past. The most precious beads have also kept their
value as collector`s Items.

Sarawakiana talk for year 2011 is held
on a quarterly basis, covering subjects on Sarawak`s culture.