We have a vast collection of images here which have been shared over the years ...
Click on an image to see the discussions around the piece.
Enjoy!
We have a vast collection of images here which have been shared over the years ...
Click on an image to see the discussions around the piece.
Enjoy!
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Comments
Close ups of the mysterious symbols
what a gorgeous item1 i am looking forward to the comments regarding possible origin of the coins and bells
coin copies are quite popular across the subregion at least for Thalers of which i have had a bunch copied in various parts of the African horn.... The coin with saint george seems to be a similar process result of copying the English sovereign (i am sure i have seen one before but can't recall where).
All the other symbols do not seem odd athough the latin letters are question raising indeed. A jewish lady from Aden or near the coast could have been in enough western contact to have her initials in latin and so could act a jewish smith in the same conditions to mark his initials. Also not from Ethiopia but from any coastal christian communities on the red sea (Erythrea or Djibouti) but i don't believe it could have came from deep Ethiopia proper.
Recent colonial history with christian settlers in Aden (from any part of the british empire) could be the cause of someone commissionning them or either a british settler himself???!
It is indeed a very interesting ethnographical piece