Weight to weigh (130) - Metal alloy - Africa

Exceptional and very rare ancient private collection of Weights to weigh gold among the Akan (140) - Alloy of metals, African bronze, Brass, Metal - Akan - Benin Very Rare set of quality museum weights collected during several decades. Some weights come from former O. R. collections, gathered since the 1950s. The collection was subject to a study and an inventory was established the 6th of October 1981 by Mrs, Eid, an archivist of the Museum of African and Oceanian Arts of the Porte Dorée in Paris, at the request of Mr. C. Noll, curator of the African arts section. The French Ministry of Culture recognises the remarkable nature of these creations. A donation of the pieces from the same collection was done to the Museum of the Quai Branly. Very good state of preservation since they were stored in a box. Akan weights have acquired the status of sacred objects, related to the cult, and sessions teaching their language are given during ritual days. The highly sacred symbols on the weights – pyramids, spirals, Greek and Roman crosses, swastikas or crescents - are deified in many religious beliefs.