pounder;
bride-price;
currency
- Museum number
- Af1934,1207.1
- Description
-
Bride-money, pounder weighing twen pounds; made of metal; length of metal chiselled into the shape of a pounder, with one thick end and opposite end tapering to a point.
- Production date
- 1934
- Dimensions
-
Height: 8.50 centimetres
-
Width: 7.90 centimetres
-
Depth: 32.60 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- The Bafia people of Cameroon used it as a bride price. It was not meant for everyday use.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1934
- Acquisition notes
- Af1934,1207.1 to 27 is a collection of objects from the Cameroons given to the BM by the hunter and animal collector F G Merfield. In the register they are described as coming from the Menjie Mey tribe in the district around the town of Batouri, with the exception of the last two (nos.25 and 26) which are from the Kaka tribe.
In fact the Mendjim Mey is a forested region in the east of the French Cameroons, near the border with the Central African Republic, lying south of the Doume river, and is populated by the Mendjim people and by pygmies (Baka or Bayaka).
See Eth.Doc.248, and Merfield's biography for evidence that Major Powell-Cotton had suggested that he make this gift.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1934,1207.1