Kissi Iron Penny Currency

This one still shows its hammer marks, row on row.

A Kissi penny, forged from iron in Sierra Leone in the 20th century and once used as everyday money. Such pennies passed from hand to hand across Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, counted out in bundles for market purchases and for marriage and other family payments. Close to ten inches long, this one has a flat, lightly twisted shaft. A sharply angled, fan-shaped flare finishes one end, and a rounded, lobed paddle with a notched edge finishes the other.

The iron is earthy reddish-brown, soft and dry.

Modest. Quietly sculptural. Rather like the people who spent it.