Mbuti Spear-Form Currency

Delicacy is a form of confidence. The Mbuti, it appears, had plenty.

A slender bronze currency in the form of a spear. Metal objects modeled on weapons and tools circulated across Central Africa as currency and stores of value, used in important payments and exchanges. This one is almost seventeen inches but very thin. A small, leaf-shaped blade with a central ridge sits at one end. Then a gentle kink in the shaft, and it runs straight and fine to the opposite tip. The metal is warm and darkened, lightly worn.

It looks fragile beside heavier currency. It is a very good argument for restraint.