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| Object |
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| Gold dust container - Akan - Ghana |
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| Ethnic group |
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| Akan |
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| Origin |
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| Ghana |
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| Provenance |
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| Private collection Berlin |
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| Material |
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| Brass alloy |
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| Size |
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| 6.0 x 2.8 x 3.0 cm |
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| Description |
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A brass alloy gold dust container from the Akan in Ghana. Cast similarly to gold weights using the lost wax process.
Gold was kept wound up in cloth in such boxes. It is said that gold dust boxes were also used as gold weights.
The Akan occupy a large area of West Africa stretching from the South-West of Ghana to the South-East of the Ivory Coast
The use of scales, boxes and weights etc originally came from the Islamic north. The Akan used gold weights etc for the best part of five centuries. The sacking of Kumasi by the British in 1874 was the beginning of the end for the use of gold dust as a form of money and was completely outlawed by the British 1896. |
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