Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2019.9.7 |
Object Name |
Weight, Balance |
Description |
Rectangular gold weight with deep reddish patina and a swastika symbol on its surface. The Asante peoples of West Africa used gold dust as their currency for almost five centuries. To standardize prices, traders used a complex system of weights. There is debate about what swastikas (also known as the Monkey's Foot) mean in Asante culture. Some interpretations include that it represents an Akan queen mother hairstyle (a symbol associated with the Adinkra symbols of West Africa), or a colobus monkey which is native to central Africa. Sometimes it is also associated with the numerical value one thousand. This is the case as African tribal chiefs kept treasure chests called apem adakas (meaning "box of one thousand"), which housed gold. |
Title |
Gold Weight |
Date |
early 1800s |
Material |
bronze |
Dimensions |
H-1.25 W-1 D-0.5 inches |
Credit line |
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Breunig, Jr. |
Place of Origin |
Africa/Ghana |
Culture |
Asante |
Subjects |
Gold Trade Weights & measures |
Relation |
Show Related Records... |