Shell money most valued by the Native American tribes of the Pacific Coast from Alaska to northwest California was "Dentalium shell", a species of long narrow marine shelled mollusk, a tusk shell or scaphopod. The tusk shell is naturally open at both ends, and can easily be strung on a thread. This shell money was valued by its length rather than the exact number of shells; the "ligua", the highest denomination in their currency, was a length of about 6 inches. Farther south, in central California and southern California, the shell of the olive snail "Olivella biplicata" was used to make beads
Prehistoric beads in the Philippines in the site were that they were all whole beads and belonged to the following species of mollusks: "Cypraea annulus, Strombus canarium, Strombus luhuanus, Nassarius arcularius, Nassarius globosus, Nassarius albescens, Nassarius pullus, Pictocolumbella ocellata," and "Pyrene scripta". Together with these beads were other, larger decorative pieces. Other modified shell décor were the microperforated cut shell beads which were much more uniform than the previous two types. Of the beads in the Ille, these were of two main types, the organic and inorganic types. Of the organic beads, majority of them were whole, Neolithic-type beads. Formation of these beads were characteristically