Zande currency blade
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1898.61.2
Country:
?Sudan , Congo, Democratic Republic of
Region:
[Southern Sudan?]
Cultural Group:
Zande [?Bongo]
Date Made:
By 1897
Materials:
Iron Metal
Process:
Forged (Metal) , Hammered
Dimensions:
L = 313 mm, W = 235 mm, Th = 2 mm, W finial = 6.8, Th finial = 5.5, W tang = 7.6 mm, Th tang = 7 mm [RTS 21/7/2004].
Weight:
862.9 g
Other Owners:
Part of John Frederick Calvert collection, sold at Stevens Auction Rooms on December 8, 1897 [RTS 21/7/2004].
Field Collector:
John Frederick Calvert
PRM Source:
Stevens Auction Rooms
Acquired:
Purchased December 8 1897
Collected Date:
By 1897 [1857?]
Description:
Iron spade blade currency, consisting of a rectangular sectioned bar, split at the top and bent to form two curving and tapering points that curl down on either side of the shaft.
These are slightly misshapen and the metal has split along each arm.
The bar thickens towards its base, where it joins onto a large flat spade-shaped body with sides curving around and then in towards the centre of the base.
A short, tapering, oval sectioned tang extends from this central point.
While the body is largely flat, surface irregularities occur across it and thicker areas can be felt down the central axis near its top and base, making it seems likely that the finial piece and tang were made as separate pieces that were welded onto the body and hammered flat.
The object is complete, but the surface is showing traces of rust and is currently a reddish brown colour (Pantone 439C).
It has a length of 313 mm, is 235 mm wide and 2 mm thick at the edges; the finial bar is 6.8 mm wide and 5.5 mm thick, and the base of the tang measures 7.6 by 7 mm.
The object weighs 862.9 grams.
This type of object would have been used as form of bridewealth.
Supposedly collected by John Frederick Calvert, and purchased from Stevens Auction Rooms at a sale on 8th December 1897. Research on Calvert by his biographer, Michael P. Cooper, has shown that he was known as a gold miner and collector, who supposedly had 3000 ethnographical specimens which he had collected himself during an expedition with a private company to look for gold in Zande territory in 1857. However Calvert is known to have invented numerous stories about his own exploits, so this expedition may not have taken place, and it is possible that the objects were acquired by other means. As Petherick, Mansfield Parkyns and others were collecting in Zande country from around the same time as Calvert’s ‘visit’ (and selling them on from the 1860's), it is quite possible that similar material was available for purchase in the auction rooms of the day. Calvert’s own ethnographic material was auctioned by Stevens in several lots (8th November, 29th November, 8th December 1897, and 5-6th July 1898). E.G. Allingham ( Romance of the Rostrum, 1924) states that Calvert’s collection included items from Bongo country, so wherever he obtained it, his Sudanese material may have been of mixed cultural origins, rather than solely Zande.
Museum files contain a copy of part of a pamphlet about Calvert’s collection, published sometime between 1890 and 1897, in which are mentioned “Neam Nam. Implements, between thirty and forty years ago. These cannibal races of Central Africa were visited and a very large collection obtained from them. Their work was very good; the arrow heads are most elaborate. At that time no intercourse with civilised nations allowed them to obtain iron; all they had to rely upon was Meteoric Falls.” This is assumed to have been written by John Calvert or his son Albert F. Calvert (information provided by Michael P. Cooper).
Schweinfurth illustrates a similar object, with comparable body shape, but added incised decoration that is typical of Bongo ironwork (G. Schweinfurth, 1875, Artes Africanae pl. IV fig. 15). Schweinfurth writes about this kind of blade being used as a form of currency, which the Bongo called loggoh Kullutty or Loggoh Kulluty (G. Schweinfurth 1873, The Heart of Africa Vol. 1 , p. 279). These parallels raise the question of whether the attribution of this particular example to the Zande is correct, in light of the uncertainty regarding Calvert's association with it.
This object is currently on display in the Lower Gallery, case 76B.
Rachael Sparks 30/9/2005.
Supposedly collected by John Frederick Calvert, and purchased from Stevens Auction Rooms at a sale on 8th December 1897. Research on Calvert by his biographer, Michael P. Cooper, has shown that he was known as a gold miner and collector, who supposedly had 3000 ethnographical specimens which he had collected himself during an expedition with a private company to look for gold in Zande territory in 1857. However Calvert is known to have invented numerous stories about his own exploits, so this expedition may not have taken place, and it is possible that the objects were acquired by other means. As Petherick, Mansfield Parkyns and others were collecting in Zande country from around the same time as Calvert’s ‘visit’ (and selling them on from the 1860's), it is quite possible that similar material was available for purchase in the auction rooms of the day. Calvert’s own ethnographic material was auctioned by Stevens in several lots (8th November, 29th November, 8th December 1897, and 5-6th July 1898). E.G. Allingham ( Romance of the Rostrum, 1924) states that Calvert’s collection included items from Bongo country, so wherever he obtained it, his Sudanese material may have been of mixed cultural origins, rather than solely Zande.
Museum files contain a copy of part of a pamphlet about Calvert’s collection, published sometime between 1890 and 1897, in which are mentioned “Neam Nam. Implements, between thirty and forty years ago. These cannibal races of Central Africa were visited and a very large collection obtained from them. Their work was very good; the arrow heads are most elaborate. At that time no intercourse with civilised nations allowed them to obtain iron; all they had to rely upon was Meteoric Falls.” This is assumed to have been written by John Calvert or his son Albert F. Calvert (information provided by Michael P. Cooper).
Schweinfurth illustrates a similar object, with comparable body shape, but added incised decoration that is typical of Bongo ironwork (G. Schweinfurth, 1875, Artes Africanae pl. IV fig. 15). Schweinfurth writes about this kind of blade being used as a form of currency, which the Bongo called loggoh Kullutty or Loggoh Kulluty (G. Schweinfurth 1873, The Heart of Africa Vol. 1 , p. 279). These parallels raise the question of whether the attribution of this particular example to the Zande is correct, in light of the uncertainty regarding Calvert's association with it.
This object is currently on display in the Lower Gallery, case 76B.
Rachael Sparks 30/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[BI, p.
94] - 1898.
[insert] 61 [end insert]
SALE AT STEVENS’
- Purch[ased].
at the J.
Calvert sale, 8.12.97.
(repaid to the curator Feb.
1898).
[insert] 1-2 [end insert] - [One of] 2 large pieces of iron money (spade-blade shaped), Niam Niam tribe, Central Africa.
17/-.
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 94, ext to entry] - P. R. F. [item also has a blue ink tick beside it].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 2/2/2004].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - IRON MONEY, RESEMBLING THE loggoh Kulluti of the BONGO (v. 'Artes Afric. pl. IV fig. 15). BUT FURTHER CONVENTIONALIZED. NIAM NAM, CEN. AFRICA. Coll. by Mr J. Calvert. Purch. 1898 (Stevens) [rectangular metal-edged tag, tied to object]; Iron plaque or marriage portion, a girl, having one of these iron plaques alloted to her, would have no difficulty in arranging her matrimonial future, and would be considered a priceless possession [rectangular typed label stuck to object] NEAM NAM. Calvert coll. [ink handwritten annotation at end of label; RTS 21/7/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 94, ext to entry] - P. R. F. [item also has a blue ink tick beside it].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 2/2/2004].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - IRON MONEY, RESEMBLING THE loggoh Kulluti of the BONGO (v. 'Artes Afric. pl. IV fig. 15). BUT FURTHER CONVENTIONALIZED. NIAM NAM, CEN. AFRICA. Coll. by Mr J. Calvert. Purch. 1898 (Stevens) [rectangular metal-edged tag, tied to object]; Iron plaque or marriage portion, a girl, having one of these iron plaques alloted to her, would have no difficulty in arranging her matrimonial future, and would be considered a priceless possession [rectangular typed label stuck to object] NEAM NAM. Calvert coll. [ink handwritten annotation at end of label; RTS 21/7/2004].
Display History:
Current display label - CENTRAL EQUATORIAL AFRICA, AZANDE.
Native currency: loggah-kulliti, conventionalized hoe blade.
Purch.
1898 [case L.76.B, RTS 21/7/2004].
