Kissi Iron Penny Currency

A wavering line, forged by hand, and the wobble is part of the charm.

This 20th-century iron rod is a Kissi penny, once used as money, hand-forged in Sierra Leone. Such pennies served across a wide region of West Africa, exchanged in bundles for goods and services and used in marriage payments. Ten inches long, it has a strongly twisted shaft with a slight swelling toward one end and a few bright highlights where the iron catches the light. One end flares into a narrow, sharply angled blade; the other ends in a broad, lobed paddle shaped a little like a leaf, dark and pitted.

Lively. Slightly unsteady. Honest.