Manillas are generally accepted to be open bracelets in various sizes, often cast in brass or copper, alloyed with lead, zinc and tin and traded as currency from the late 15th to early 20th centuries. The word manilla is derived either from the Spanish for necklace (monilia) or from the Latin for hand (manus). Their circulation was mainly within West Africa and in particular south-eastern Nigeria. Prior to the 19th century, silver was used purely as a consumption good for jewellery and ornaments rather than money. Brass however, was in many places cheaper and easier to cast than copper. Babatunde Lawal suggests copper and brass rods were being brought into West Africa from the Sahara and North Africa before the European arrival. Brass wristlets were made by Hausa and Nupe brass-smiths as early as the 11th century.

Manillas were both decorative and ritualistic, playing a role in ceremonial customary practices connected with marriage and burial. A twisted or snake manilla signified the completion of a bride price transaction (Jeffreys, quoted in Johansson, p23). Dowry was contracted in terms of manillas as well as other payments, for example of goats, dogs, cloth and palm-oil. It is possible that these well and finely made manillas were what Talbot, (in Grey, 'Manillas') refers to as 'abi' or Prince manillas. They provided both stored wealth and symbols of status.

Karen Adams, December 2007

References
Grey, R.F.A. 'Manillas', in The Nigerian Field, Vol.16, p52-56.
Johansson, Sven-Olof. Nigerian Currencies: Manillas, Cowries and Others.
Norrkpoping, Sweden: printed by Alfa-Tryck for the author, 1967.
Quiggin, Alison Hingston. A Survey of Primitive Money: The Beginnings of
Currency. New York: AMS Press, 1979.

These indigenous manillas were made using the lost wax technique. This involves firstly making a model of the object in pure bees wax at which stage the basic form and design is determined, with decorative detail generally stamped or incised into the metal later. The wax model is then covered in clay mixed with organic substances such as hair or fibre. This is initially applied thinly and is combined with charcoal powder which vaporises when heated and in so doing prevents the formation of air bubbles. Each layer is dried before a new layer is applied. Wax rods extend from the model and melt when heated to facilitate the passage of molten metal which fills the void left by the wax model. The clay mould is broken when cool and thus can only be used once.

Men traditionally worked with silver. When she examined them, Professor Francine Farr, an authority on African pre-coinage suggested that the silver manillas are in fact east African in origin, possibly from Ethiopia or Somalia. Brass was associated with superstition. For this reason brass ovens needed to be placed outside the village, away from the fields to ensure a good crop. Such beliefs meant that brass was only cast during the dry season.

Karen Adams, December 2007

References
Eyo, Ekpo. Nigeria and the Evolution of Money. Lagos, Nigeria: Central Bank of
Nigeria in association with the Federal Department of Antiquities, 1979.
Fisher, Angela. Africa Adorned. New York: Abrams, 1984.
Grey, R.F.A. 'Manillas' in The Nigerian Field, Vol.16, p52-56.
Johansson, Sven-Olof. Nigerian Currencies: Manillas, Cowries and Others.
Norrkpoping, Sweden: printed by Alfa-Tryck for the author, 1967.
Lawal, Babatunde. 'Dating Problems at Igbo-Ukwu' in The Journal of African
History, Vol. 14, No. 1. (1973), pp1-8.
Puccinelli, Lydia. The Artistry of African Currency (exhibition catalogue),
National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C. 2000.
Quiggin, Alison Hingston. A Survey of Primitive Money: The Beginnings of
Currency. New York: AMS Press, 1979.

These four native manillas are part of a collection of twenty six in total. They were collected by the donor and purchased from a scrap metal merchant in Apapa (the port and industrial area of Lagos, Nigeria), between 1964 and the end of 1966. At the time the donor held the position of the Australian Trade Commissioner, and was stationed in Lagos from August 1963 to March 1964 and January 1965 to December 1966, and also in Accra, Ghana from May 1964 to January 1965.

The purchase of each manilla was dependent on both the weight of the bracelet and the value at the time of the metal from which it was composed. Prior to collection by the donor, the manillas were purchased by contacts of the Apapa scrap metal dealer with the responsibility to travel to rural villages and buy back manillas. After their withdrawal from circulation in 1949, villagers were allowed to keep a small number of manillas for ceremonial purposes only. The surrendered manillas were stored in the merchant's yard in mounds which the collector recalls being up to 'ten or twelve feet' in height.

The exact origin of manillas is uncertain and speculation surrounds their possible derivation. Theories vary from their similarities to bronze Celtic torques possibly recovered from shipwrecks off the Nigerian coast, to indigenously crafted objects, recast from metal or, alternatively, having their origins in the penannular ring money used by the Carthaginian or Phoenician explorers. Evidence supports the idea that native bracelets were used early as a medium of exchange. Smaller, pre-cast, mass produced and undecorated trade manillas were made by various European countries for use within Africa. Both forms of manilla were withdrawn from circulation towards the end of the 19th century with the introduction of conventional British-style currency although limited quantities were allowed to be retained for ceremonial purposes such as dowry payments and burial wealth. The word manilla is derived either from the Spanish for necklace (monilia) or from the Latin for hand (manus). (Johansson, Nigerian currencies: manillas, cowries and others, p.11).

Karen Adams, December 2007

References
Eyo, Ekpo. Nigeria and the Evolution of Money. Lagos, Nigeria: Central bank of
Nigeria in association with the federal Department of Antiquities, 1979.
Fisher, Angela. Africa Adorned. New York: Abrams, 1984.
Quiggin, Alison Hingston. A Survey of Primitive Money: The Beginnings of Currency.
New York: AMS Press, 1979.
Johansson, Sven-Olof. Nigerian Currencies: manillas, cowries and others, 1967

Manilla jewellery / currency (4), crescent shaped, silver / brass, makers unknown, West Africa, 1850-1950

The two silver (possibly wedding manillas) and two brass manillas are all crescent shaped highly refined and well crafted. The silver bracelets are highly polished with plain centre and incised leaf motifs culminating in a floral terminal each end. They show evidence of wear on the inside edges and a resultant smoothing away of the design motif. The two brass manillas are inscribed with rouletted line-work to give the impression of twists and end in wedge-shaped termini with etched ornament. These brass manillas are stylistically reminiscent of the rings worn by the Kanuri, Shuwa and Fulani peoples in Nigeria.

-3/1 Manilla, silver, rounded cross section, budding terminals, 38mm apart, unadorned central shaft. Decoration on the arms is stylistically more free-form.

-3/2 Manilla, silver, rounded cross section, budding terminals, 5mm apart, deeply incised free form design of plant inspired motifs.

3/3 Manilla, brass, rounded cross section, "C" shaped form, wedging of terminals with sculptural treatment. The shaft has an incised twist.

-3/4 Manilla, brass, rounded cross section, with narrowing terminals. Brass bands separate the spiral banding from the unadorned terminal arms and extremities.

Made: West Africa; 1850 - 1950


Used: Lagos, Nigeria; 1850 - 1950

Worn lettering possibly of artisan's name or origin.

2008/75/3

1850 - 1950