Wampum Wampum Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of American Indians. It includes the white shell beads fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell and the white and purple beads made from the quahog or Western North Atlantic hard-shelled clam. It was used by the northeastern Indian tribes as a form of gift exchange, and the colonists adopted it as currency in trading with them. Eventually, the colonists developed more efficient methods of producing wampum, which caused inflation and ultimately its obsolescence as currency. Wampum was often kept on strings like Chinese cash. Before European
Worry beads the fact that κομπολόι evolved from "κομποσκοίνι", the Greek word for prayer rope. Worry beads have several uses in Greek culture, including: Many prominent Greeks were users and collectors of worry beads, including former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and business magnate Aristotle Onassis. Worry beads may be constructed from any type of bead, although amber, amber resin (such as faturan), and coral are preferred, as they are thought to be more pleasant to handle than non-organic materials such as metal or minerals. Greek worry beads generally have an odd number of beads (often one more than a multiple of four,