Shell Ornament, possibly Hawaiian Islands

This designation refers to shell ornaments historically associated with the Hawaiian Islands, crafted by skilled indigenous artisans of Polynesian heritage. These objects, often fashioned from niho palaoa (whale tooth ivory), shells, and braided human hair, served as powerful chiefly regalia and symbols of high social rank and spiritual authority. Such works represent the sophisticated material culture and aesthetic traditions of pre-contact and early contact-era Hawaiʻi.