Small rectangular piece of cast metal with incised stylised animal pattern, used for weighing gold dust.
These are brass weights, often referred to as gold weights, and were used by the Akan people, such as the Asante or Fante people. They were used to measure gold dust, which was used as currency up to the end of the 19th century. Many weights illustrated popular sayings and Akan chiefs sometimes used them to send each other messages. Animal shapes were often made, for example the scorpion which is the symbol of death. This may have been to act as a warning as to other chiefs and rulers. Others showed images of everyday life.
