SIERRA LEONE. Kissi Penny, 1880-tal. 29 cm.

Myntet, det primitiva betalningsmedlet, är format som en virad järnstav med en T-formad avslutning i ena änden och en spatelform i andra änden. Kissi Pennies finns i olika längder vilka representerade olika värden (valörer).

Järn, 29 cm.

Kissi penny was an iron currency made in Sierra Leone.

West Africans from the region of modern-day Liberia and Sierra Leone have used iron as a trading good and standard of value for a long time. Iron working had developed in the region by ca. 600 B.C.E. and was of extremely high-quality.

Portuguese records indicated that sailing voyages in the early sixteenth century carried iron bars among the trade good going farther north. During the period of the slave trade in the region, iron bars were a standard of payment and wealth. There is no reason to believe that these items were shaped as the kissi penny was.

Historical records do not note the use of kissi pennies before the last years of the nineteenth century (c. 1880) and they continued in use as money until gradually replaced by colonial currencies, but as late as 1940 in Sierra Leone.

Kissi pennies were made by smiths in the form of long rods, with a "T" on one end (called nling or "ear"), and a sort of blade, not unlike a hoe on the other end (called kodo or "foot"). They ranged in length from about 6 (15 cm) to as long as 16 inches (40 cm).

A score of oranges could be bought for two, or a bunch of bananas. Because each one had relatively small value, they were often gathered into bundles (usually of 20). Prices compiled in the early twentieth century, for example put the cost of a cow at 100 bundles, while bride price might be 200 bundles, and slaves, while the domestic slave trade was still working, might sell for 300 bundles.

European travelers regarded them as a curious form of primitive money, and as a result many were collected and deposited in museums.