Bracelet / Currency – Bronze – Gan – Burkina Faso

Beautiful bronze bracelet from the Gan / Kaa people of Burkina Faso. The bracelet is made with the lost-wax casting methode. The mold is destroyed every time; every object is a unique piece.

For more information and similar examples:
“Bronzes gan – la spirale du serpent”, by Bertrand Goy and Maine Durieu, Editions Sépia – 2005, provides a close analysis of the Gan Bronzes;
“Les Gan du Burkina Faso”, by Daniela Bognolo.

Good condition with traces of wear and tear.

Old copper Manilla – West African trade currency.
Manillas are (almost ring-like) bracelets, mostly in bronze or copper, very rarely of gold. They served as a kind of money or barter. They were also used as decoration in certain West African nations like Guinea Coast, Gold Coast, Calabar Kingdom, other parts of Nigeria. Manillas were also known as “slave trade money”. The Europeans began to use the Manillas to buy slaves for the slave trade in the Americas (as well as in England before 1807) The size and weight of a Manilla determined the exchange value.