Geometric gold weight
The rise of the Asante kingdom in what is now Ghana was predicated on military might, political acumen, and the abundance of gold found in this part of West Africa. Much of the gold was found near the surface of the earth, in riverbeds and streams, and some was mined from deeper pits. Akan goldsmiths from various groups, including the Asante and the Baule, had long perfected techniques for working with gold, making jewelry and royal regalia. When the Asante consolidated their rule over other Akan kingdoms at the end of the 17th century, the priest Okomfo Anokye was said to have brought a golden stool down from the sky where it landed on the lap of Osei Tutu, the first ruler of the Asante confederacy. It became the most important object symbolizing the powerful Asante kingdom.
By the time of the Umayyad Caliphate’s conquest of North Africa in the seventh century, Amazigh and Arab traders used gold as a medium of exchange. Their networks reached from North Africa across the Sahara into the forest and coastal lands to the South. Until the British conquest of what they called The Gold Coast (now Ghana), in the late eighteenth century, and their introduction of silver coinage in about 1900, gold dust was the dominant form of currency in that region.
To serve as a medium of exchange, gold had to be measured, weighed, and assigned value. The Asante and neighboring people created a variety of objects for this purpose: brass scales, storage boxes, spoons, and weights (abrammuo). Much of the paraphernalia was based on Arab models, but the Asante created weights with designs that carried particular cultural meaning.
Asante brass casters made two types of weights: representational and geometric. The geometric weights with abstract designs are among the oldest ones, dating to the 1400s. Representational weights—which first appear around 1600—depict wild animals, humans engaged in various activities, household objects and tools, weapons, and musical instruments. Some weights were made from miscellaneous European imports like metal buttons, buckles, locks, and keys. While all have been called “gold weights,” recent scholarship suggests it was mainly the geometric ones that were used for weighing gold dust. Because they were made in such a great variety of shapes and sizes, small pieces of lead were often added to them to make them conform to a particular measurement. The brass (and occasionally silver) figurines were made by the same metal workers, and sometimes have pieces added or subtracted to conform to a weight. Many, however, may not have served as weights and may have been circulated as conversation pieces: embodiments of proverbs, rules, and moral judgements. Gold weights and weighing paraphernalia were individually owned and men would keep theirs in a special cloth that was often hidden for safekeeping. Some of the gold weights in museums today come from caches that were deliberately buried long ago.
The geometric weights were made following the Arab system known as mithqal or sextula, used for weighing gold and saffron. The mithqal was based on the gold dinar, dating from Roman times, and was equivalent to a little over 4.6 grams. When the Portuguese and other Europeans entered the trading system from the southern coast of West Africa starting in the late fifteenth century, they introduced another counting system based on the ackie which was equal to 1/16 of an ounce. The ackie could be divided into smaller units called tokoo (a small berry), eight of which equaled one ackie. The Asante used the European system when trading with the British and other Europeans but used their own system, based on the mithqal, for internal trade (Mollat 2003:6 and Gerrard 1972:20).
All of the weights were made using the lost-wax technique. That technique begins with a small sculpture—figurative or abstract—fashioned out of beeswax. The artist then envelopes it in a clay mold. When the mold is fired, the original beeswax sculpture, or sometimes a real object such as an insect, shell, or seed, disintegrates, after which molten metal is poured into the mold and takes the form of the original object or wax sculpture. Almost all of the gold weights are made of brass, a metal alloy composed of copper and zinc.
Geometric weights depict a variety of compositions based on spirals, lines, and circles. Some of these designs can be found on other Asante objects, for example adinkra stamps that are used on textiles, and on stucco buildings that served as shrines, with the surviving examples now a UNESCO World Heritage site. These designs are often associated with proverbs. The meaning of most of the geometric patterns is not known, but there are some square and rectangular Islamic weights with similar designs that may have had a numerical significance. It is therefore possible that in the past, designs designated specific weights (Garrard 1972: p. 10).
Enid Schildkrout
Curator Emerita at the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, 2025
By the time of the Umayyad Caliphate’s conquest of North Africa in the seventh century, Amazigh and Arab traders used gold as a medium of exchange. Their networks reached from North Africa across the Sahara into the forest and coastal lands to the South. Until the British conquest of what they called The Gold Coast (now Ghana), in the late eighteenth century, and their introduction of silver coinage in about 1900, gold dust was the dominant form of currency in that region.
To serve as a medium of exchange, gold had to be measured, weighed, and assigned value. The Asante and neighboring people created a variety of objects for this purpose: brass scales, storage boxes, spoons, and weights (abrammuo). Much of the paraphernalia was based on Arab models, but the Asante created weights with designs that carried particular cultural meaning.
Asante brass casters made two types of weights: representational and geometric. The geometric weights with abstract designs are among the oldest ones, dating to the 1400s. Representational weights—which first appear around 1600—depict wild animals, humans engaged in various activities, household objects and tools, weapons, and musical instruments. Some weights were made from miscellaneous European imports like metal buttons, buckles, locks, and keys. While all have been called “gold weights,” recent scholarship suggests it was mainly the geometric ones that were used for weighing gold dust. Because they were made in such a great variety of shapes and sizes, small pieces of lead were often added to them to make them conform to a particular measurement. The brass (and occasionally silver) figurines were made by the same metal workers, and sometimes have pieces added or subtracted to conform to a weight. Many, however, may not have served as weights and may have been circulated as conversation pieces: embodiments of proverbs, rules, and moral judgements. Gold weights and weighing paraphernalia were individually owned and men would keep theirs in a special cloth that was often hidden for safekeeping. Some of the gold weights in museums today come from caches that were deliberately buried long ago.
The geometric weights were made following the Arab system known as mithqal or sextula, used for weighing gold and saffron. The mithqal was based on the gold dinar, dating from Roman times, and was equivalent to a little over 4.6 grams. When the Portuguese and other Europeans entered the trading system from the southern coast of West Africa starting in the late fifteenth century, they introduced another counting system based on the ackie which was equal to 1/16 of an ounce. The ackie could be divided into smaller units called tokoo (a small berry), eight of which equaled one ackie. The Asante used the European system when trading with the British and other Europeans but used their own system, based on the mithqal, for internal trade (Mollat 2003:6 and Gerrard 1972:20).
All of the weights were made using the lost-wax technique. That technique begins with a small sculpture—figurative or abstract—fashioned out of beeswax. The artist then envelopes it in a clay mold. When the mold is fired, the original beeswax sculpture, or sometimes a real object such as an insect, shell, or seed, disintegrates, after which molten metal is poured into the mold and takes the form of the original object or wax sculpture. Almost all of the gold weights are made of brass, a metal alloy composed of copper and zinc.
Geometric weights depict a variety of compositions based on spirals, lines, and circles. Some of these designs can be found on other Asante objects, for example adinkra stamps that are used on textiles, and on stucco buildings that served as shrines, with the surviving examples now a UNESCO World Heritage site. These designs are often associated with proverbs. The meaning of most of the geometric patterns is not known, but there are some square and rectangular Islamic weights with similar designs that may have had a numerical significance. It is therefore possible that in the past, designs designated specific weights (Garrard 1972: p. 10).
Enid Schildkrout
Curator Emerita at the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, 2025
Artwork Details
- Title: Geometric gold weight
- Artist: Akan artist
- Date: 16th–17th century
- Geography: Ghana; Côte d’Ivoire
- Culture: Akan peoples
- Medium: Brass
- Dimensions: H. 1 1/8 × W. 1 7/8 × D. 1/2 in. (2.9 × 4.8 × 1.3 cm)
- Classification: Metal-Implements
- Credit Line: Gift of Ernst Anspach, 1994
- Object Number: 1994.312.3
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
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