Primitive money "Kissi-Penny" · Sierra Leone, Kissi · ID: 3036222
sold
EUR 200
Size
L: ~ 15 cm - 35 cm
L: ~ 5.9 inch - 13.8 inch
Description
iron, 30 pieces, typical form, traces of corrosion;
first used in 1900, and until the 1920s they were the only money in the area. In 1918, 30 or 40 bundles of 20 pieces each would by a cow, and 60 or 80 bundles would buy a wife. As late as 1915, 100 or 200 bundles would buy a slave.
Comparing literature
Opitz, Charles J., An Ethnographic Study of Traditional Money, Ocala, Florida 2000, p. 179 f.