Akan Gold Weight Collections

Akan gold weights, known in Twi as abrammuo (also abremmuo or mrammou), are small brass and bronze weights cast by the lost-wax method. They were used by the Akan peoples of present-day Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire to measure gold dust — sika futuro — which served as the principal medium of exchange in the Akan economy from at least the 15th century until the introduction of colonial currency in the late 19th century.

About this collectionWhat Akan gold weights are and how they were used

Akan merchants, particularly in the Asante (Ashanti) kingdom centred on Kumasi, used standardised weights to measure gold with remarkable precision across regional and long-distance trade. The corpus is divided into figurative weights — animals, humans, objects, narrative scenes — and geometric weights — cubes, pyramids, discs and bars with stamped or incised patterns. Figurative weights frequently allude to Akan proverbs and to ideas of balance, ethics, authority and social order, concepts fundamental to Akan commercial and cultural life.

Akan gold weights did not exist in isolation. A working merchant's set included a small balance scale with suspension pans, a graduated set of cast weights, a brass gold-dust container (sometimes a kuduo ceremonial vessel for chiefly use), a scoop or spoon for transferring gold dust, and a sieve for cleaning it. Complete original ensembles are increasingly scarce on the market, which is why the seven-piece Asante weighing set in this collection — comprising cast brass weights, a balance scale with suspension pans and a brass gold-dust container — is documentary as well as decorative. This collection sits as a sister silo to the wider African tribal art programme.

Typology · FigurativeFigurative gold weights in this collection

Figurative Akan weights depict animals, human figures, objects, weapons, plants and narrative scenes, and almost every figurative weight carries embedded meaning. The pieces in this collection illustrate several of the most collected forms.

• Narrative figural compositions. Two stylised human figures interacting with a long-necked bird, in the compact sculptural format characteristic of narrative gold weights. The composition refers to Akan proverbs and social relationships, in the visual shorthand that scholars have described as a dictionary of Akan wisdom.
• Anthropomorphic figurative weights. Highly stylised human and human-derived forms used to convey philosophical concepts of balance, authority and social order. One example in the collection retains its original leather backing — a documented functional feature that provided stability and protection during use, while also carrying symbolic significance.
• Asante / Baule small sculptural forms. Small sculpted heads and mask-form weights of the type discussed in Angela Fisher's Africa Adorned, where they are described as symbols of rank, ancestral presence and spiritual protection, expressing the identity and prestige of the owner.
• Figural group sets. Coherent multi-piece groups of stylised animal forms, valued by collectors for their sculptural abstraction and ethnographic importance, especially when preserved together with established provenance.

The wider figurative repertoire extends to hornbill, crocodile, chameleon, leopard, mudfish, sankofa bird, two-headed crocodile, chief on a stool, drummer, warrior, kola nut, drum, stool, sword, sandal, comb and many more. Every collected piece in this category should be read for both its visual form and its underlying proverb or symbolic reference.

Typology · GeometricGeometric weights and mixed study groups

Geometric weights form the earliest and longest-running part of the Akan tradition, dating from roughly the 15th century through the 19th century. They are non-representational: cubes, cylinders, truncated pyramids, stepped forms, discs and bars, decorated with stamped or incised patterns including parallel lines, crosshatching, zigzags, dots and radial fields. They were the everyday working weights of most transactions and, despite the popular focus on the figurative corpus, represent the majority of surviving Akan weight material.

Mixed groups containing both figurative and geometric weights are particularly valued for their documentary breadth within a single grouping. The eleven-piece abremmuo collection in this stock combines figurative examples — including chair and vessel forms — with geometric types, illustrating the dual aesthetic and symbolic vocabulary of Akan mercantile culture in a single coherent assemblage.

Typology · PendantsGoldweight pendants and the reuse of weights as jewellery

A separate but documented strand of Akan brass-trade material is the goldweight reworn as jewellery. Once colonial currency had displaced gold dust as the everyday medium of exchange, many cast brass forms were perforated and worn as personal adornment, retaining their visual language of curved profiles, concentric motifs and fine linear engraving but no longer functioning as units of value.

The Akan goldweight pendant in this collection — a brass form with curved profile, concentric ornament and a perforation for suspension — illustrates this transition directly. The motifs and casting quality place it firmly within the Akan goldweight visual tradition; the suspension hole records its later cultural reuse. Pendants of this type are of particular interest to collectors who track the post-1900 evolution of Akan brass material culture and the decline of the goldweight system itself.

TechniqueHow Akan gold weights were made

Akan weights were cast by cire perdue — lost-wax casting — the same basic process used across West Africa for bronze work from Ife and Benin to Bamum. The British Museum's overview of the Kingdom of Benin and the Met Museum's overview of lost-wax casting give the wider technical and historical context.

1. A model of the weight is sculpted in beeswax, with casting channels (sprue and vents) attached.
2. The wax is encased in fine clay slip, then heavier outer clay, and dried.
3. The mould is heated; the wax melts out, leaving a hollow cavity.
4. Molten brass — a copper alloy with zinc, sometimes with small amounts of tin or lead — is poured into the cavity.
5. Once cool, the mould is broken open. The casting cannot be reused.
6. Sprues and vents are filed away, and the mass is adjusted by filing — or, less commonly, by adding brass — to reach a target unit.

Every weight is technically unique. Two weights of the same subject from the same workshop differ in small details of modelling, finishing and mass.

Visible casting apertures, tool finishing, slight irregularities, file-mark adjustments and consistent surface patination are all positive authenticity signals. Uniformly machine-smooth surfaces are not. Several pieces in this collection carry visible casting apertures and tool finishing as documented features in their descriptions, consistent with hand-finished period production.

DatingWorking periods for the stock in this collection

The standard reference for Akan weight typology and dating is Timothy F. Garrard's Akan Weights and the Gold Trade (1980), which divides the tradition into Early (c. 1400–1500), Middle (c. 1500–1700), Late (c. 1700–1900) and Final (c. 1900–1920s) periods. The current stock sits in the Late and Final phases.

• 18th–19th century. Figurative and figural-group examples, including the leather-backed Asante figurative weight and the Asante / Baule bronze.
• 19th century, possibly earlier. The eleven-piece mixed abremmuo collection.
• 19th–early 20th century. The figural composition with bird and figures, the seven-piece weighing set, and the goldweight pendant.

Dates are stated in honest ranges. Where a tighter date cannot be supported by provenance or stylistic evidence, broader windows are used.

AuthenticationHow to identify an authentic Akan gold weight

Authenticity rests on a combination of casting evidence, surface, mass, subject and provenance. The most useful checks are surface and patina, casting quality, tool marks, wear consistent with handling, subject within the documented Akan repertoire, mass aligned with documented unit values, and documented provenance.

The mass of every weight in this collection is stated in grams, and dimensions are given for each piece individually or, for sets, as a total mass and piece count. For comparative reference, see the Akan gold weights at the British Museum and the African collections at the Musée du Quai Branly. The wider authentication framework across cast brass adornment is covered in the African tribal art collector's guide.

ProvenanceEgon Guenther, Hans Himmelheber and what the named-collection marks mean

The entire active stock in this collection is from the Egon Guenther Collection. Egon Guenther was one of the significant 20th-century European collectors and dealers in African art, with deep holdings in Akan brass material and West African ethnographic objects more broadly. Pieces from his collection are routinely described in dealer and auction catalogues with the named-collection reference, and the Guenther name carries weight on niche-collector SERPs and in published comparables.

The figural weight with bird and figures (SKU EG AGW 0077) descended through the Guenther family by direct inheritance to Thomas Guenther. Where this kind of family-descent chain is documented, it is stated explicitly in the listing.

Hans Himmelheber as a secondary provenance

Two pieces in this collection carry an additional, earlier provenance to Hans Himmelheber (1908–2003), the German ethnologist whose field collecting and publications, particularly on Côte d'Ivoire and Ghanaian material, shape much of the modern reference literature on West African art.

• Leather-backed Asante figurative weight (SKU HH16). Egon Guenther Collection; previously in the collection of Hans Himmelheber.
• Akan brass goldweight pendant (SKU HH 017). Egon Guenther Collection, with Himmelheber-era provenance indicated by inventory.

Where a Himmelheber lineage is documented, it is recorded in the listing and supports both the dating window and the authenticity signal for the piece.

MaterialsBrass, bronze and copper alloys

The pieces in this collection are described in the materials terminology used in the relevant catalogue entries.

• Brass. Copper-zinc alloy, sometimes with small amounts of tin or lead. The material of the figural weight with bird and figures, the three-piece abrempong group, the leather-backed Asante figurative weight and the goldweight pendant.
• Bronze. Copper alloy with tin (and sometimes other elements). Used in the descriptions of the Asante / Baule small sculptural goldweight and the eleven-piece abremmuo collection. In the practical metallurgical literature on Akan weights, "brass" and "bronze" are not always sharply distinguished, and several pieces are best described as a copper alloy with the precise composition variable.
• Brass and copper alloys. The seven-piece weighing set combines brass and copper alloys across the weights and balance components.
• Leather. The leather-backed Asante figurative weight retains its original leather base, a documented functional feature that provided stability and protection during use.

CareCondition and ongoing handling

Akan weights are small and robust but not indestructible. The pieces in this collection show settled patination and handling wear consistent with age and use, retained as a positive feature rather than removed. Buyers should expect a settled brown to near-black brass or bronze patina (welcome and not to be cleaned), minor pitting or corrosion from long storage, file-mark evidence of original mass adjustment, and small casting flaws that are part of the original object.

• Do not polish. The patina is part of the object and should never be brightened.
• Avoid abrasive cleaners, dips and acids. A soft dry brush is enough.
• Keep in stable, dry conditions. High humidity promotes bronze disease (active chloride corrosion), which once present requires specialist treatment.
• For multi-piece sets, store on a felt-lined tray or in a custom display box so pieces can be handled and grouped without abrasion.

BuyingHow pieces are documented and sold

Each piece is documented with subject, material, approximate period, dimensions, mass in grams, and provenance. Where attribution is approximate, this is stated plainly. Private viewings are available in the Netherlands by appointment, and worldwide shipping is arranged on request. Condition reports, additional photographs, and close-up detail images are available on request before purchase. Akan gold weights are not subject to CITES or other protected-material restrictions and travel well internationally.

For collectors building across the Akan and West African brass tradition, see the related African tribal bracelets sub-silo for cast cuffs, manillas and prestige adornment, and the African trade bead, millefiori and amber necklaces for the European glass beads that travelled the same trade routes as the gold dust these weights were made to measure.

FAQFrequently asked questions about Akan gold weights