Congolese Iron Hoe Currency, Based

The hoe is the oldest honest tool. Enlarge it, stylize it, and it begins to do other work.

In the Republic of Congo, such blades circulated as a store of value and passed hands in bridewealth. This one is 20th-century iron, thirty-one inches on its stand. It rises from a narrow tang through a long, tapering shaft scored with closely spaced horizontal ridges, then opens into a wide, crescent-like blade. The surface is dry, golden-brown, finely pitted.

Stand it on a console. Nobody will ask you to dig anything.