Stone Money Disk, "Rai"
date: label: Accession Date
content: 22 Jun 1962
name: label: Donor Name
content: Gaag
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Calcite material, irregular disk shape. Note by S. H. Riesenberg, Oct. 5, 1977: today Fernando R. Faleuaath, a chief in Balabat, Rul, visited me to look at the Yap collections. He tells me that this specimen of Yap money is presently exhibited in [NMNH Exhibit] Hall 8 both upside down and back to front. The old soil line, which is visible near the top, indicates that the present orientation of what should be the bottom (i.e., what should be at 180 degrees) is at about 25 degrees or 30 degrees. What is presently the back is characterized by all-over rather regular chipping or gouging, the present front being more irregular in surface; the two should be reversed. See diagram on card, it indicates present (Oct. 5, 1977) orientation of visible soil line, which should properly be turned and exhibited downwards."
label: Notes
content: From 2014 exhibit labels for the stone money: Quarried: 1904. Size: 6 ft (1.83 m) wide x 6.09 ft (2.08 m) high x 7 in (18 cm) thick. Weight: apx. 4,000 lb (2.03 metric tons.) In 1904, a villager named You (pronounced yo [o with macron over it] -u [u with macron over it] quarried this stone on the nearby island of Palau. It was sent to Yap via the steamship Germania and placed in front of a community house. In 1962 this stone was sold with the permission of the Balabat village to the Smithsonian Institution. The export of rai is strictly controlled by the Yapese government. This stone (or rai) is a symbol of status on the Micronesian island of Yap. ... These large stone disks are often called "stone money" but they are only exchanged by Yapese communities and families during important social occasions, not in daily, commercial transactions. ... The value of each [rai] stone is determined by its history, which includes when it arrived on Yap, who owned it, and how it was used. Exchanges of rai honor traditional ceremonies such as marriages, funerals, competitive dancing, feasting, and construction of community buildings. For centuries, stone disks (or rai) were quarried from aragonite deposits on the southern end of Palau about 250 miles (402 km) from Yap. To cross the ocean to Yap, canoes towed bamboo rafts that held the stones upright and half-submerged. Across land, rai were carried by bamboo poles.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 15 Apr 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Balabat / Rul, Yap Island, Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia, Micronesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 228912
label: USNM Number
content: E400073-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Money