40136

Very Rare Earliest Kissi "Pennies"

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:10.00 USD Estimated At:250.00 - 500.00 USD
Very Rare Earliest Kissi  Pennies
SOLD
70.00USD+ buyer's premium (14.00)
This item SOLD at 2021 Mar 16 @ 07:31UTC-7 : PDT/MST

Lot: 40136
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Title: Very Rare Earliest Kissi "Pennies"
Description: Before 1900 Kissi blacksmiths began making long iron rods in such a way as to show off the quality of the iron: half was hammered, and half was twisted; the hammered end was drawn to points, and the twisted end sharpened into a blade. If iron can be worked in these four ways it is obviously of good quality. And each rod was given a “soul,” which would be lost if it were broken! These iron rods were called kilindi. The earliest were up to 30" long, but soon became shorter. Because kilindi were of comparatively low value they were generally tied in bundles of 20; about 1910 a virgin bride could be purchased for 200 bundles.
This lot contains two of the very rare earliest examples of kilindi, one about 27" long with a broad blade before the twist, and the other about 26" long, of the later pattern. Also included is a guinze (another local name for the Kissi penny, according to Ballarini), a group of four 16" Kissi pennies twisted together. See Opitz, pp. 179-80; all illustrated in NNP edition, https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/541824, pp. 290, top left, and 241.
Low Estimate: 250
High Estimate: 500
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