A beautifully produced nest-weights set produced in the Netherlands. The Dutch used these types of weight for weighing gold dust. As the weights were standardised the sometimes labourious job of weighing gold-dust was greatly simplified. They would probably have been used in the Gold Coast (present day Ghana) and are likely to be at least 200 years old. There are five bowl shaped weights in all, (the sixth and smallest weight is missing) that fit snugly into each other.
Lit.: Akan Weights and the Gold Trade - Timothy F. Garrard - page 180
