African Arts Gallery

The Kota live in the eastern part of Gabon, which is rich in iron ore. The blacksmith, also a wood carver, made tools for agricultural work as well as ritual weapons, such as this knife with a blade in the shape of a bird's beak, called osele or musele. He also produced reliquary figures plated with metal. The handle of this ceremonial knife is sheathed in copper wire. In Africa, before the colonial period, payments were never made in coins. Transactions were made using cowries, pearls, livestock, kola nuts, but also metals, especially iron. These primitive currencies were used in commercial and social exchanges, especially for dowries, but could also be parade objects or throwing weapons. In Sierra Leone, goods were valued in terms of iron bars called barriferri. In 1556 in Djenné, Jean-Léon l'Africain observed that people used iron to pay for "things of little value". The king generally controlled the production or transport of the kingdom's currency.