Mbuti Spear-Form Currency

Sixteen inches, long and lean, with a leaf for a point.

In many parts of Central Africa, metal objects modeled on blades and spearheads served as units of value, exchanged in trade and marriage payments. This spear-form piece comes from the Mbuti of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it is bronze, not iron. A small leaf-shaped point at one end. A thin straight shaft running to a tapered tip at the other, with a slight notch near the far end. Dark brown, dry and matte, with traces of wear along its length.

It looks like a weapon. It was money. The Congo has always enjoyed that sort of joke.