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AFRICA: CAMEROUN: iron double hoe money (1603g), VF

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Ethnographic - African Start Price:40.00 USD Estimated At:75.00 - 100.00 USD
AFRICA: CAMEROUN: iron double hoe money (1603g), VF
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AFRICA: CAMEROUN: iron double hoe money (1603g), Opitz p.158 (plate example), comprising two diamond-shaped halves, used by the Mambila people of Cameroun and Nigeria as payment and as bride price, VF, ex Charles Opitz Collection. Opitz divides African metal currencies into three categories based on their utility. The first category includes objects where the distinction between their uses as tools and as money is minor. The second category includes those that retain their original shape, but are made of a finer, perhaps less practical material. Objects in the last category have completely lost their shape as practical tools and instead have a standardized weight and size, and are therefore strictly a currency. As metal was a scarce commodity in Africa before the 20th century, all three categories were considered extremely valuable and widely used in exchanges.