Currency – Copper – Nkutshu – Congo

These enigmatic U-shaped pieces of copper currency were made by Nkutshu blacksmiths for their monetary system. They also traded them with their neighbors, the Basongo Meno, a group of Mongo origin. The Nkutshu called them Konga or Kunga; among the Basongo Meno they were known as Boloko or Okano. The aforementioned considered them important objects and used them both in dowry payments and in the purchase of slaves and big animals. Alfred Mahieu specified their value in Numismatique du Congo 1485-1924 (Brussels, 1924):

1 boloko bought a billy goat,
2 boloko bought one goat or a man slave,
3 boloko were worth a female slave,
10 boloko constituted a normal dowry for a wife.

Good condition with traces of wear and tear