Snake currency – Lobi – Bronze – Iron – Burkina Faso

Old black iron snake currency from the Lobi poeple of Burkina Faso. Good condition with a beautiful aged patina. The end of the tale seemed broken.

Old copper Manilla – West African trade currency.
Manillas are (almost ring-like) bracelets, mostly in bronze or copper, very rarely of gold. They served as a kind of money or barter. They were also used as decoration in certain West African nations like Guinea Coast, Gold Coast, Calabar Kingdom, other parts of Nigeria. Manillas were also known as “slave trade money”. The Europeans began to use the Manillas to buy slaves for the slave trade in the Americas (as well as in England before 1807) The size and weight of a Manilla determined the exchange value.

Provenance: Manfred Schäfer, former gallery owner from Ulm (Germany).