Igbo, Nigeria, 19th century
Copper alloy
3 3/4 x 14 1/2 inches (9.5 x 36.8 cm)
Provenance: Alan Mann, London
The coil is formed from a single heavy rod wound into roughly twenty close rounds, each pressed against the next so that the whole reads as a solid cylinder. Both ends finish in a flattened flare that turns outward beyond the line of the coil, and the tension of the winding holds the form without any join or weld. A green and brown patina covers the surface with red copper showing through at the crown of each round where the metal has rubbed, and narrow gaps of light open between the rounds along one side.
Coiled copper of this kind circulated in southeastern Nigeria alongside the cast manilla, held as stored wealth and paid out at marriages, funerals, and in settlement rather than exchanged for daily goods. Weight and the number of rounds carried the value, so a coil was assessed as metal rather than counted as coin, and large intact examples were kept rather than cut down for smaller transactions. The rounds here remain closed and even along the whole length, with both flared terminals present.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Igbo, Nigeria, 19th century
Copper alloy
3 3/4 x 14 1/2 inches (9.5 x 36.8 cm)
Provenance: Alan Mann, London
The coil is formed from a single heavy rod wound into roughly twenty close rounds, each pressed against the next so that the whole reads as a solid cylinder. Both ends finish in a flattened flare that turns outward beyond the line of the coil, and the tension of the winding holds the form without any join or weld. A green and brown patina covers the surface with red copper showing through at the crown of each round where the metal has rubbed, and narrow gaps of light open between the rounds along one side.
Coiled copper of this kind circulated in southeastern Nigeria alongside the cast manilla, held as stored wealth and paid out at marriages, funerals, and in settlement rather than exchanged for daily goods. Weight and the number of rounds carried the value, so a coil was assessed as metal rather than counted as coin, and large intact examples were kept rather than cut down for smaller transactions. The rounds here remain closed and even along the whole length, with both flared terminals present.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
