What is an Ashanti gold weight?
Akan goldweights (locally known as mrammou) are weights made of brass used as a measuring system by the Akan people of West Africa, particularly for wei and fair-trade arrangements with one another. The status of a man increased significantly if he owned a complete set of weights.
How did the asante weigh gold?
How were they used? Akan people produced gold weights like these in Ghana from around 1400 to 1900. Made from imported European brass, these weights represented units and could be adjusted with drops of solder or copper plugs. They were used to measure gold-dust, the currency of the region at the time.
What was African gold made of?
Krugerrand
| Composition | Gold (91.67% Au, 8.33% Cu) |
| Years of minting | 1967 – present |
| Obverse | |
|---|---|
| Design | 1892 by Otto Schultz – Profile of Paul Kruger with “SUID-AFRIKA·SOUTH AFRICA” in the legend. |
| Reverse |
What is the unit of measure for gold?
troy ounces
The weight of gold is most commonly measured in a unit known as troy ounces, although in a world where the metric system is growing in adoption, grams are also commonly used. Gold purity is measured in units of carat or fineness.
What is the weight of a blade of gold?
One « blade », a razor blade, one gram.
What did ancient Ghana use gold for?
At its peak, Ghana was chiefly bartering gold, ivory, and slaves for salt from Arabs and horses, cloth, swords, and books from North Africans and Europeans.
How do you measure gold weight at home?
Calculating the Weight of Pure Gold in Grams Simply multiply the weight of your jewelry in grams by its purity. For example, if you have an 18K ring that weighs 7 grams, knowing that 18 karats equals 75% purity, you can calculate that the pure gold in the ring is 5.25 grams.
What is the history of Ghanaian gold weights?
Akan people produced gold weights like these in Ghana from around 1400 to 1900. Made from imported European brass, these weights represented units and could be adjusted with drops of solder or copper plugs. They were used to measure gold-dust, the currency of the region at the time.
What is an Akan goldweight?
Akan goldweights (locally known as mrammou) are weights made of brass used as a measuring system by the Akan people of West Africa, particularly for wei and fair-trade arrangements with one another. The status of a man increased significantly if he owned a complete set of weights. Complete small sets of weights were gifts to newly wedded men.
What was the gold dust weight used to measure?
Made from imported European brass, these weights represented units and could be adjusted with drops of solder or copper plugs. They were used to measure gold-dust, the currency of the region at the time. Units of gold dust were weighed out for all transactions, from the smallest market sale to the largest state enterprise.
How many goldweights are there?
Some estimate that there are 3 million goldweights in existence. Simon Fraser University has a small collection, consisting mostly of geometric style weights, with a number of human figurative weights. Both types are pictured here and come from the SFU Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography.