How it began
In the forest region of present-day Ghana, Akan-speaking peoples built a gold market rich enough for the area to be called the Gold Coast. Gold dust served as the medium of exchange. Dyula merchants, who began trading with the Akan in the late 14th century, are credited with introducing a weight system based on Islamic units. By the 14th century goldsmiths in the region were making their own weights, scoops, scales and gold dust boxes.
Before it existed
Before metalworking techniques were developed, the Akan based their weights on tropical seeds. Natural objects such as seed pods were used to measure gold dust, and some later brass weights were direct castings of such objects. The earliest brass weights, with geometric designs, drew on the Islamic standard carried by trans-Saharan traders, since Europeans did not arrive until the Portuguese landed in 1482.
How it works
The weights are cast in brass, by direct casting around a real object or by the lost-wax method. More than 60 values were in use, the smallest about 0.04 grams. A caster could add small nuggets of brass or drill metal away to bring a weight to standard. In a transaction each side used its own weights and scales to check the gold dust. Local names for the units varied, but the standards were the same between regions.
What lasted
Gold dust was the main currency of the region from the middle of the 18th century until paper money based on the British pound was introduced in 1899. By the 19th century Islamic, Portuguese and troy standards had been combined in one system. Princeton University Art Museum states that Akan goldsmiths cast some three million weights between 1400 and about 1908.
Where it stands today
The weights are no longer used in trade. They are studied and collected in museums, including the Penn Museum, the Princeton University Art Museum and the British Museum. Because they have not been excavated in archaeological contexts, the dating of their development remains largely speculative. Figurative weights are valued as records of Akan proverbs, myths and history.
