Lot of 9 Shell Necklaces from Coiba Island, Panama

Item PAN12   

This Item was Sold on 20 April 2017 for $36


Similar artifacts for sale are often found on the Panama Canal Collectibles web page. 

Historical Pricing information for this item and similar artifacts can be found at: Historical Artifact Prices.


Coiba Island (Isla Coiba) is a large island off of the Pacific Coast of Panama. This island is the home of Panama's famous Coiba Prison and there is very little on this island other than the prison. I have never been to Coiba Island, but I have seen it on an ocean voyage in the 1960s. I remember that the sea was filled with large sea turtles. Dean Flora was a Baptist missionary who traveled all over Panama in the 1960s. He visited Coiba Island in the early 1960s and he purchased these shell necklaces to give spending money to the prisoners. Dean sold the necklaces to me in the mid 1990s. Each necklace is in excellent condition. There is a large shell pendant and the strands are alternating segments of single and double rows of small shells. The construction technique is very similar to shell necklaces that were made by the Kuna Indians of the San Blas Islands on the Atlantic coast, of Panama. There are nine necklaces in this lot and all are about the same size but with slightly different lengths and weights. These are fine collectibles from Coiba Island at a time when few visitors were allowed to visit.

Length = 37-42 cm (14-16 inches) ; Weight = 170 gm (6 ounces)


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