Weight Akan

These pieces of the century XIX were used in the territory of Baulé until well into the century XX. They are all different, both in shape and in size or weight. All of them are decorated with different motifs on their surface. These motifs constitute a true code of signs, a language known only to the high initiated. Fr. Georges Niangoran Nbouah, q.e.p.d. left us an extensive treatise in three volumes on the weights of weighing goldthe first and most in-depth study carried out on the subject.

Weights or ornaments with two cross-crossed crocodiles, and both carry a fish in their snout, are a typical extended representation in both Ghana and Ivory Coast. It symbolizes male and female duality. However, a single crocodile represents the powerful man. The crocodile is also the animal that establishes the relationship between land and water. The crocodile, a mythical animal in many African ethnicities, is an excellent fisherman. And... if you eat the fish you don't eat the men. The crocodile with the fish in the mouth is called "Odioka" which means "if you eat, you stay". It is one of the many symbols of the king or man of power.

The crocodile is the source of several sayings, for example, "The crocodile never returns what it has taken", "When you are in the middle of the river you do not insult the crocodile" or "Everything that eats the catfish is for the crocodile (who ends up eating it".