Mbole Copper Currency Anklets

The Mbole, a small group of about 150,000 people in Southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) made ankle currency bracelets of copper which were used for major transactions. A fine example of African metal work, produced primarily for use as currency, though so little is actually known about them that it is possible that they could have been worn for special occasions, like weddings. These are very large and heavy pieces sometimes up to 12 inches in diameter. 

  Their use was most-likely restricted to "bride price" transactions, serving not only as gifts between families but also to settle disputes which might arise surrounding the subject of marriage. The Mongo "are any of several peoples living in the African equatorial forest, south of the main Congo River bend and north of the Kasai and Sankuru rivers in Congo (Kinshasa). They include numerous ethnic groups such as the Bokote, Ekonda, Bolia, Sengele, Ntomba, Ndengese, Songomeno, Mbole, Bongandu, Boyela, Nkutu, and Tetela-Kusu. They speak dialects of a common language, Mongo or Nkundo, from the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo languages. Many groups are disappearing because of falling birth rates." These rare copper anklets are most-often linked to the Ekonda sub-group. Arts of the Mongo and their relatives, exist mostly in "oral" form, with songs and the dances associated with them dominant. Considering the fact that the Mongo peoples are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Congo Basin it is surprising that relatively few forms of the so-called "plastic arts" exist.  See an example in Schaedler's EARTH AND ORE-2500 YEARS OF AFRICAN ART IN TERRA COTTA AND METAL

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