Kissi Iron Penny Currency

Counted in bundles. That is how a Kissi bride’s family would have reckoned it.

Ten and a half inches of 20th-century Sierra Leone iron, forged by the Kissi. Such rods circulated as money across the Kissi region of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, tallied by the bundle for bridewealth and other important exchanges. This one spirals along its shaft between two flattened terminals: a narrow, flared fin at one end, a rounded, paddle-like ear at the other. Weathered rust-brown, with silvery glints where the twist catches the light.

Count it. Then count again, just for the pleasure.