Baule Gold Weight in the Form of a Drum Pendant

Gold dust was weighed, not counted. Among the Akan-related peoples of Ghana and Ivory Coast, small cast weights did the measuring, in an enormous range of everyday and symbolic forms.

Baule metalworkers in Ivory Coast cast this one in bronze in the 20th century, in the form of a drum. It is only an inch and a half long. The ribbed body resembles bundled staves, with a twisted-rope band at the waist and a rope-twist rim at the top. A small loop at the upper edge and a curled loop at the foot let it hang as a pendant. Golden highlights alternate with blue-green patina in the recesses.

Small enough to wear. Heavy with meaning, if you ask the drum.