Dogon - Tribal used antique Tuareg bracelet or manilla - Nigeria - Vendu

Tribal used antique BronzeTuareg bracelet or Manilla - Nigeria

Diameter: 9.5 cm.
Taxatiewaarde: 125 - 150 euro

Antique West African Tuareg Tribal Bronze Bangle Bracelet Manilla Currency Piece, 19th-20th C. Nigeria. Likely Tuareg People of Mauritania, West Africa. A fine example, the solidly cast bangle crafted of a copper-brass alloy with simple curved cuff terminating in large geometric lug finials with incised decoration. Unmarked.Manillas are penannular armlets, mostly in bronze or copper, very rarely gold, which served as a form of commodity money (and, to a degree, ornamentation) among certain West African peoples (Aro Confederacy, Guinea Coast, Gold Coast, Calabar and other parts of Nigeria). Copper bracelets were used to make payments in West Africa before the arrival of European traders. The word 'manilla' comes from the Portuguese word for bracelet. When the Portuguese arrived in Benin, Nigeria, in the fifteenth century, they quickly started trading brass and copper for pepper, cloth and slaves. In the 1490s a Portuguese trader wrote that at Benin copper bracelets were more highly prized than brass ones. The number of manillas in circulation increased dramatically from the sixteenth century when they became one of the standard trade currencies. Millions were made in Europe, along with brass and copper pots and pans, and imported into Africa for trade.