Antique Katanga Cross Copper Currency – HANDA – DR Congo

Copper Alloy. cm. 15,6 wide x 18,0 high (6.14″ x 7.09″); grams 793,0 (27.97 oz.).

A Katanga cross is a cast copper cross which was once used as a form of currency in parts of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The name derives from Katanga, a rich copper mining region in the southeastern portion of the DR Congo. These X-shaped ingots were cast by local coppersmiths by pouring molten copper into sand moulds.

For similar examples and more information see:
“The Perfect Form”, by Roberto Ballarini, page 319;
“African Currency”, by Adolfo Bartolomucci, page 109

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