Antique Katanga Cross Copper Currency – HANDA – DR Congo

Copper Alloy. Cm. 16,5 width x 18,8 high (6.50″ x 7.40″); grams 790,6 (27.89 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 south-eastern portion of the DR Congo. These X-shaped ingotswere cast by local coppersmiths by pouring molten copper into sand molds.

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

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