Akan Figural Gold Weight with Bird and Figures – Brass – Ghana

This brass figurative weight belongs to the Akan tradition of gold weights (abrammuo) used in the historic gold-dust trade of West Africa. Akan merchants, particularly among the Asante (Ashanti), used standardized brass weights to measure gold dust, which served as a primary medium of exchange from at least the fifteenth century until the introduction of colonial currency in the late nineteenth century. Figurative examples such as this one depict animals, objects, or human activities and often allude to Akan proverbs or social relationships.

The weight is cast in brass using the lost-wax (cire perdue) technique, in which each object is produced from a unique wax model. The composition shows two stylized human figures interacting with a long-necked bird, rendered in the compact sculptural format characteristic of narrative gold weights. The surface displays age wear and patina consistent with use and handling. Figurative weights of this type are valued both as practical tools of the historic gold trade and as expressions of Akan visual culture.

Circa: 19th–early 20th century

PROVENANCE: Egon Guenther Collection; by family descent to Thomas Guenther.

MEASUREMENTS
Length: 6.45 cm
Width: 1.77 cm
Height: 2.77 cm
Weight: approx. 34 g