Bronze, about 1 1/8” modeled as a hornbill. Gold dust was the currency of the slave and ivory trade. These weights were originally used to measure it for transactions. They represent proverbs that were integral to the Ashanti culture and later, were exchanged as gifts. The Ashanti god Animabri is a great hornbill. As well owing to their peculiar behavior, hornbills figure into several Ashanti proverbs.
