Accession Number

2000.006.0002

Description

Manilla currency. Horse-shoe shaped, open circle of brass with flattened ends at opening.

Exhibition Label

Manilla Bronze 19th century Like European coins, manillas were made in a variety of sizes for use as currency. Unlike coins, they were not standardized but valued individually by weight like ingots. some large manillas were created as status symbols and elaborately decorated. First made in Africa, they were manufactured in Europe as early as the 16th century to facilitate trading. In 1949, in an attempt to modernize, the English outlawed their use in colonial Nigeria, bringing an end to a 500-year old tradition.