gold weight

One of five brass gold weights, in the shape of a seated animal eating.

These brass weights, often referred to as gold weights, were used by the Asante to measure gold dust, which was the currency of the Asante. The lost wax method was used to cast a gold weight. A beeswax model of the weight was encased in a clay cocoon and baked. The wax ran out and was replaced by molten brass. When it cooled the clay was knocked off the outside revealing the weight.

Animal shapes were often made, for example the scorpion which is the symbol of death. Others showed images everyday life.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk