4197

Very Rare Cattle-Buying Money

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:500.00 USD Estimated At:NA
Very Rare Cattle-Buying Money
SOLD
725.00USD+ buyer's premium (145.00)
This item SOLD at 2021 Mar 12 @ 12:10UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
Lot: 4197
Header:
Title: Very Rare Cattle-Buying Money
Description: In Pallaboroa, Haenertsburg District, Zoutpansberg, Northern Transvaal, marales (singular lerale) were used as money in the 19th century and into the 20th. They were used to purchase cattle, at a rate of two cows and three goats (or 10 cows?) per lerale. Today they are extremely rare, with only about 15 pieces remaining in collections (Eugenia W. Herbert, Red Gold of Africa, 1984, p. 194). One of the oddest of all primitive currencies, a lerale is an irregular copper rod almost two feet long, with a flattened cone with root-like bars protruding from it at one end. See Opitz, pp. 202-03; this piece illustrated, p. 203.
Low Estimate: 1050
High Estimate: 2100
Pedigree Collection: