Konga legband currency, Ekonda people, Zaire
copper
8" long x 5" wide
from the Alan Helms collection, Boston, MA
ex private NYC collection
$700
To inquire, send an email with a subject line of "Konga legband currency #1".
"Bronze legbands with ribs on the outside were used as a form of money. A wood form was presented in the earth
and hot copper or brass was poured in the mold and while still hot it was wrapped around a log to form a cylinder.
It was originally called konga. (See Ballarini p. 116) I believe they were called bakonga, and in the first half of the
20th century, five to twenty bakonga would pay for a wife. Later the price increased from 200 to 300 bakonga.
One bakonga was also worth 10 engetele or bingetele."
From "An Ethnographic Study of Traditional Money" by Charles J. Opitz, page 201-202.
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