4173

Bongoombwa Ring

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:200.00 USD Estimated At:NA
Bongoombwa Ring
Lot: 4173
Header:
Title: Bongoombwa Ring
Description: In the Kinshasa region of the Congo, large heavy brass rings called bongoombwa were used as money. A single ring weighed up to 25 lb. and was normally formed around a woman's neck, for her to wear the rest of her life. Each bongoombwa was worth 1000 mitako. See NNP edition, https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/541824?page=133 (this example illustrated, left center). Also from the Congo, a very rare bronze ingot in stretched manilla shape ("double T shape"), believed to have been made for the copper trade from the 18th century to 1903. Mentioned in Opitz, p. 126; this example illustrated in NNP edition, https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/541824?page=192, lower right.
Low Estimate: 525
High Estimate: 700
Pedigree Collection: