Gold weight

Museum number:
5-10859
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21050010859
Alternate number:
B-638 (previous number (Bascom’s number))
Accession number:
Acc.4192
Description:
Ashanti gold weight; figurine, man lying on back, dead or dying, hands on knees; darkly tarnished.
Donor:
Berta Bascom
Collection place:
Ghana
Verbatim coll. place:
Africa; Ghana, Ashanti
Culture or time period:
Ashanti
Materials:
Brass (alloy)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Gold-weights
Function:
7.3 Weights, Measures, and Computing Devices
Context of use:
Associated proverb: "It is only the dead who get buried, not the dying." Used during the gold dust currency trade which flourished on the Ivory Coast from teh 1400's throught the 1800's.
Department:
Africa (except Ancient Egypt)
Dimensions:
width 2.5 centimeters and length 6.5 centimeters
Comment:
Notation on card: Verso: “It is only the dead who get buried, not the dying.”; PAHMA Storage Loc: V-28-4. Native name: abrammuo = goldweight.
Loans:
S1962-1963 #72: Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology/Alex Nicoloff (July 13, 1962–unknown)
Images:
Hearst Museum object 1 of 2 titled Gold weight, accession number 5-10859, described as Ashanti gold weight; figurine, man lying on back, dead or dying, hands on knees; darkly tarnished.Hearst Museum object 2 of 2 titled Gold weight, accession number 5-10859, described as Ashanti gold weight; figurine, man lying on back, dead or dying, hands on knees; darkly tarnished.
Legacy documentation:
Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Gold weight, accession number 5-10859, described as Ashanti gold weight; figurine, man lying on back, dead or dying, hands on knees; darkly tarnished.

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