Chamba Forged Iron Currency, Based

Iron was costly. So the smiths made it into forms people recognized, and then it could be money.

Chamba smiths of Cameroon forged this piece in the early 20th century. Across the region, shaped iron circulated as a store of wealth and as payment in marriage and other exchanges. Here a thick open ring twists upward into two vertical prongs. One ends in a small flared cup. The other finishes in a pointed, head-like tip.

The surface is a soft gray-brown, pitted and weathered. A curved cradle on a black stand holds it at fourteen and a half inches.

A purse that looks like sculpture. Or the reverse.