Kissi Iron Penny Currency

Forged in Sierra Leone by Kissi smiths. Twenty and a half inches of iron, and every inch of it worked by hand.

These rods changed hands in markets and at marriages. This one spreads into a broad, angular crossbar, its edges thin from the hammer, then narrows and twists toward a small, rounded knob. Dry rust-brown iron, scattered with pitting. Twentieth century.

Set it against something pale and plain and it reads like a pen stroke. The calligraphy of the smithy.