Wampum

Wampum are shell beads that were used as a currency by Native Americans.

[A]mong the Red Men of America the giving of the white belt of wampum was the deepest pledge of honor; […]

From his lodge went Hiawatha, / Dressed for travel, armed for hunting; / Dressed in deer-skin shirt and leggings, / Richly wrought with quills and wampum; / On his head his eagle-feathers, / Round his waist his belt of wampum, […]

These title deeds are of wampum, the grant of an Indian chief to the first Dowell, who left Farnham in Surrey in company with William Penn.

[Kenneth O'Keefe, letter] Have that seven quid. Or else I'll be kaput. […] [Sebastian Dangerfield, letter in reply] Kenneth, we all want wampum. And as you must know, if only I had some I would be only too willing to share. But the only thing I have here is a pile of business magazines which I am going to burn for a fire.

[M]ore and more people in the folk world suddenly discovered there was more than a little wampum to be made by discovering a trace of Indian blood in their past and donning the traditional headband.