currency (Kissi penny)

unrecorded Kissi artist, artist

currency (Kissi penny), 1975

Where object was made: Freetown, Sierra Leone

Material/technique: iron

Dimensions:
Object Length/Width (Length x Width): 30 x 3 cm
Object Length/Width (Length x Width): 1 3/16 x 11 13/16 in

Credit line: Gift of Professor Beverly Mack

Accession number: 2011.0164

On display: Stewart Gallery

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These iron Kissi penny functioned as currency among the Kissi of present-day Liberia and Sierra Leone from approximately 1880–1940. While Kissi pennies could be used in transactions, they were also exchanged for coins and paper notes, which became the standard for trade in the latter part of the 20th century. These examples were purchased in 1975 by University of Kansas Professor Emerita Beverly Mack.