Rare dote/Currency Tetela (Mongo) - DR Congo

- Origin: Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Name of the tribe: TETELA (Mongo)
- Material: red copper
- Dimensions (in mm): 184x250x58
- Weight (in grams): 201
- Shipping method: Colissimo + Insurance

KNIVES/COINS – TETELA SCEPTERS (RED COPPER)

Very rare objects in that state because they were copper, and melted more easily than bronze or iron coins in order to create other objects.
Their various forms (knife, blades, or simple figurative coins representing a weapon such as a knife—a reference to the spearheads of the same ethnic group—strength and power in war as in hunting) indicated that they were used for marriage dowries. The future groom 'did not buy a wife' but did not thank the gift from the bride's parents.
The double blades signified the union of the spouses. The double-bladed scepters, even rarer, were mounted on a wooden or iron shaft and were carried by the fetish priests during the ceremony and consecration of this union.