Ashanti Bronze Gold Weight

Consider a square slab radiates like a sunburst around a tiny central whorl.

This Ashanti bronze gold weight is Ashanti, from Ghana, West Africa. Weights were used with small scales and spoons by traders, and sets were often kept in decorated boxes or pouches. Up close, a square block with sloped sides is incised with straight lines running outward from a small spiral at the center. The mossy green-gold surface is rough, with a hairline crack near one corner and brighter edges. It is 1.63 inches wide, 0.25 deep and 1.63 high.

A small sun that has been stamped firmly into place.