Te koikoinanti

Te koikoinanti. Spondylous shell. This is one of two valves that would make a whole koikoinanti. In its material form, its exterior is hard, roughly surfaced with the presence of pores where there is fragmentation. The exterior is off-white in colour with some darkened areas of discolouration. Its surface is convex in form with an oval base. The edging of the oval base shows some reddish colouring. The interior is concave in form and portrays its depth of hard material. The interior portrays a hinged area with two protrusions between smaller cavities. A reddish serrated texture borders the edge of the shells interior. A wider border that is flat and polished in surface follows after then giving depth to the circular, concave cavity that makes up the centre interior of the shell. The colours of the centre are mottled in off-white and pale brown tones then dappled with grey tones. Te koikoinanti are considered valuable shells because of their reddish colour tones. They would be used to create Te ntabo (red shell pendant) worn by either sexes. The term koikoinanti refers to 'small shell of the spirits' as they are rare to find and usually found empty.