WEST AFRICAN VALUABLES BOX

Yoruba, from the Methodist Missionary Society Collection. 3 ½” diameter. Coil basket work overlaid with cowrie shells and further decorated with remnants of red trade wool yarn. Minor surface soiling from handling but an excellent plus for the period with all cowries intact. Cowries were not native to West Africa but were brought from the Indian Ocean by traders and served as money. This basket would have had considerable value in its working life. Examples surviving undamaged are very rare and this one owes its preservation to the Methodist Missionary Society.