Congolese Scepter-Form Currency

Iron, in Central Africa, took on the shapes of tools and weapons, and then became something else: money.

Such pieces could be exchanged, presented or used in marriage payments. This scepter-form currency was forged in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 20th century. It is a long, slender, tapering shaft, slightly bowed, that turns sharply at one end into a short, flat, blade-like terminal set at an angle, much like a staff or hoe head.

The iron is rust-brown, dry and lightly pitted. Twenty and a half inches long.

The line is spare and almost modern. The history is not.