Means of payment | fai/rai

About the object

A smaller piece of the famous »stone money« from Yap Island known as Rai or Fei. Stone money was preeminent among the various forms of tender on the island of Yap. However, it was not used as the kind of currency with which to purchase everyday things, but as a gift in return for a job or as a bartering object on special occasions. The village communities showed their respect for one other by exchanging money and food; in this light, the different forms of money can been seen as the links of the social chain. At the same time, individual or joint ownership of particularly large money stones meant augmented prestige for an individual or a village community.

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