SPECIAL EXHIBIT | AFRICAN FORGED METAL CURRENCY

For over 2,500 years, African blacksmiths have hammered out useful objects made of metal. In addition to tools, weapons, cooking implements, jewelry, musical instruments and ceremonial objects, blacksmiths throughout the continent forged an astonishing array of unusual iron and copper currency. Displayed here are examples of special-use trade tokens exchanged within particular cultural groups in Africa prior to the introduction of printed paper money and coinage by European colonialists during the latter decades of the 19th century. Each is fashioned hot by the smith with his hammer at the anvil or formed by pouring molten metal into clay molds. The durability of metal, coupled with its tangible liquidity as a store of material for making things, gave it exceptionally stable value over other common trade goods such as food, cloth, and livestock, which had limited life spans. Due in part to the near-mystical, transformative process involved in smelting metal from earth, these materials were given tremendous symbolic power and prestige and gained wide acceptance as the currency of choice for nearly all important, social and economic transactions. A special thanks to our consultant, Tom Joyce who is a world reown artist, designer, lecturer and blacksmith. For several years, Tom conducted research and fieldwork amongst African blacksmiths. Tom curated an exhibition of African metalwork at the University of North Carolina at Asheville in 1998 and authored Life Force at the Anvil, The Blacksmiths Art from Africa.

Field photographs of Ewe blacksmiths, Galbert Atakpa (forging) and Hodenou Noglo (operating bellows), forging gonkokwi (double gongs), in the village Yohonou, Togo. Photos courtesy of Tom Joyce, 2008.