1.   Clenched teeth of cowrie shells draped from her noble neck.

2.   Traditional healers in a marketplace in Dakar, the capital city, spread their dried alligator heads, cowrie shells and powders under the shade of a Marlboro umbrella.

3.   Even today, African brides are given necklaces made with cowrie shells for luck and prosperity.

4.   From its tubular bottom piece hang strings of cowrie shells.

5.   From Asia come a pair of Indonesian wooden baby carriers covered in cowrie shells and a Tibetan turquoise and coral neck collar.

6.   It wears a collar of inlaid silver cowrie shells.

7.   No cowrie shells, lucky stones, or necklaces.

8.   Or even a system based on cowrie shells or maybe bubble gum.

9.   Over the centuries, many things have served the purpose, from beads to cowrie shells to pigs.

10.   The Africans have treated cowrie shells like money for hundreds of years.