TERA Gallery - African Art and Antiquities "Altering The Way You View The World Of Art" |
Type of Object:
Ethnic Group:
Country of Origin:
Material:
Deminsions:
- Kusu "Boloko" Currency
Late 19th c./early 20th c.
Ethnic Group:
- Bushango, Bankutu and Nkutshu Society
- Shaped by blacksmiths, these hand rworked copper forms served
as currency and were known as "boloko, okanu or konga." This
currency was made by the Nkutshu who gave them to the Song-
Meno (originally the Mongo) in exchange for copper in its raw state.
They were the most important objects used in payment of the
marriage dowry. They had considerable conventional value: 1
boloko was equal to one ram. Their market price int he area in
1950 was th equivalent of about 50 Belgian frances.
Country of Origin:
- Congo (even into Angola, central west Africa)
Material:
- Coper and Iron
Deminsions:
- 15" tall x 8" across
- Earth and Ore, 2500 Years of African Ar in Terra Cotta and Metal
by Schaedler
- Kusu people for the Songo-Meno people; Democratic Republic of
Congo (formerly Zaire), Central Africa Wrought copper alloy; (#126)
- Quiggin, Alison Hingston. A SURVEY OF PRIMITIVE MONEY:
THE BEGINNINGS OF CURRENCY. Reprint. London: Spink &
Son, 1978. p67
- Opitz, Charles J. ODD AND CURIOUS MONEY: DESCRIPTIONS
AND VALUES. Second Edition. Ocala, FL: First Impressions
Printing, 1991. p25
- Roberto Ballarini, Armi Bianche Dell'Africa Nera (Black Africa's
Traditional Arms), Africa Curio, Milano 1992. 128 Pages. p110 #68
- Karl-Ferdinand Schoedler, Earth and Ore, 2500 Years of African
Art in Terra-cotta and Metal. Panterra Verlag 1997. 369 Pages and
maps. p327 #634
- Tom Joyce, Univ. of NC exhibition. Life Force at the Anvil, The
Blacksmith's Art from Africa. Exhibition May - August 1998. 32
Pages. p25 figure 10
- Claudia Zaslavsky, Africa Counts: Number and Pattern in Africa
Culture, Prindle, Weber & Schmidt, 1973. p? figure 7 & 8
