QUEEN MANILLA INGOT CURRENCY NIGERIA #2354 ~ For African Art Gallery
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QUEEN MANILLA INGOT CURRENCY NIGERIA #2354 ~ For African Art Gallery:
$145.00
QUEEN MANILLA INGOT CURRENCY NIGERIA #2354
- Tribe:Various.
- Country:Nigeria.
- Material: Metal.
- Size: 9.75\" (24.8 cm) wide x 7.75\" (19.7 cm) high.
- Item:2354.
- Condition:Good.
- Provenance: Ex James E Adkins Estate Collection (Florida, USA).
The most common form of metal currency in West Africa was the manilla, a rod with flared ends and bent into a \"bracelet\" form. The name manilla is said to derive from the Spanish for bracelet \'manilla\' or the Portuguese for \'hand-ring\'.
Most manillas used as currency in Nigeria and Ghana were in the form of copper or brass anklets and bracelets. Usually made from a copper alloy, forms like these were recognized and used as currency for transactions from the end of the 15th to the mid-20th century. The smaller ones were manufactured in England or France and, like trade beads, were used for trade, including the slave trade, with Africa and ended up there.
Larger queen and king (like this one) manillas were more likely to have been forged in Africa and were believed to have been used by the nobility as a store of wealth and to settle transactions for significant purchases such as land, slaves and brides.
The metal content varies from copper to brass, but many were mixed with lead and even iron. There are in addition variations in size, form and quality. The Africans valued them by their ring when struck. The use of manilla currency in West Africa lasted until the second world war
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QUEEN MANILLA INGOT CURRENCY NIGERIA #2354 ~ For African Art Gallery:
$145.00