The Akan of Ghana are noted for their craftsmanship in metals. Gold ornaments appear in spectacular profusion at public festivals, and brass was cast in myriad forms as goldweights, spoons, boxes, and vessels. In general, however, the Akan are not associated with silver; there are no lavish displays of this metal, which is seen only in scattered examples, usually overshadowed by the magnificence of gold. For this reason Akan ornaments of silver have attracted little attention and have never been the subject of comprehensive study The working of silver appears to have been a subsidiary aspect of the Akan goldsmith's craft. The rarity of items in this metal suggests that it was only a few craftsmen who produced the occasional article; it is unlikely that any Akan smith worked exclusively in silver. Most items of silver or silver alloy may have been produced in the coastal towns -  where the metal was more readily available from Europeans - and in the Asante capital of Kumase.

Fig. 1 Mudfish pendant, 12.4cm.
Private collection

Although no silver was ever mined in Ghana, the metal has long been known to the Akan, for Pieter de Marees noted in 1601 that they were familiar with it (1602:97b). Later in the century Miiller recorded the word witte, representing the Akan name for silver, dwete (1673: vocabulary, Cap IV). Initially supplies of silver would have been obtained from the Portuguese. In 1817 Bowdich saw among the Asantehene's collection of silver a vessel with a Portuguese inscription and several more that he thought had the same origin (1819:38). Other visitors confirmed there was Spanish or Portuguese silver in the Asantehene's palace (Dupuis 1824:156; Freeman 1843:138). Among the earliest recorded uses to which the Akan put silver was the adulteration of gold (de Marees 1602:96b, 97b; Tilleman 1697:122). For this purpose silver coins were melted down. In later times Maria Theresa dollars, [1] Spanish and Mexican dollars, and British and West African silver currency were much sought after by Akan goldsmiths, who found that substantial profits could be made by mixing the metal with gold used for jewelry On analysis, many Akan gold castings were found to contain a significant proportion of silver. Likewise, silver used for jewelry was sometimes alloyed with lead or copper, and in this century probably with nickel; certainly much of the West African nickel coinage issued after 1906 was melted down for jewelry.

Fig. 2 Asante cast silver crocodile with mudfish, 18.7cm
Private collection

From the 17th century onward the Dutch and English made lavish gifts of silver to prominent Akan chiefs. Among the earliest such gifts were silver-topped canes, or "messenger sticks" (Miiller 1673:103), and probably a variety of silver spoons. The canes provided the prototypes for Akan linguist staffs with ornate finials, while the characteristic rattail motif found on some English silver spoons up to about 1730 reappears on some of the larger Akan brass spoons known as atere kese. Other gifts such as large rococo tureens and punch bowls survive in a number of Akan stool treasuries. Their designs appear to have influenced the Akan goldsmith, for the florid scrolls and foliate motifs on some Dutch silver recur among chiefs' regalia of embossed and beaten gold.

Fig. 3 Adam Badimsuguru, Mampurugu Na, wearing a cast silver crocodile pendant Nalerigu, August 1976

The Asante kings kept a large collection of silver, some objects received from English and Dutch governors, and the remainder obtained in trade or seized from chiefs conquered in war. Joseph Dupuis, who visited Kumase in 1820, was invited by the Asantehene Osei Bonsu (1804-23) to appraise the royal silver. On reaching the palace he found the king "seated amidst a confused heap of old battered silver utensils," which included a bowl, a coffee pot, some cups, a richly chased urn, a kettle, and a ewer and basin (Dupuis 1824:156). This collection unfortunately was dispersed when the palace was looted by the British in 1874 and 1896, and little record of it remains. It is known, however, that the coffee pot was purchased by Sir Garnet Wolseley in 1874; he identified it as old English silver, probably of the reign of George II (1727-60) but in "a battered condition" (Arthur 1922:18).

Fig. 4 Repoussé silver spoons, largest 12.8cm
Private collection

The presence of imported silver encouraged a number of Akan goldsmiths to experiment with the metal. Initially a few objects were made by the coastal smiths for the 17th-century curio trade. Among these were hatbands of fine silver wires (Barbot 1688, vol. 2:61; Bosman 1705:73-74). More commonly, the Akan made silver articles by lost-wax casting, or by the hammering of silver into thin sheets that were then cut to the shape required and decorated by punching and embossing. Some idea of the variety of work produced can be obtained from the following list, which does not claim to be exhaustive: Objects made by lost-wax casting: a few goldweights; heavy finger-rings with abstract designs; some finger-rings with representational motifs, such as a scorpion (Fig. 16); earrings, some with spiral designs; beads of various forms, some open- work (Fig. 5); tobacco pipes; [2] large hollow bracelets known as benkum benfra, consisting of two interlocking parts; smaller bracelets depicting two clasped hands, or a hand, lock, and key; jewelry ensembles comprising ornaments of many forms, such as a stool, knife, tongs, or tortoise (Cole & Ross 1977:fig. 47); circular brooches of spiral design; amulets in the form of a padlock, or padlock and key; larger padlocks to be attached to the leather bag (kotokuo) in which a paramount chief kept his gold and weights when traveling (Fig. 13); pendants of a mud- fish or catfish (Fig. 1); pendants of a crocodile's head, usually grasping a mudfish (Fig. 2); gastropod shell ornaments (Fig. 19); ornaments (often called adam) that resemble a stylized scallop shell but are said to be either a kind of fruit or a water beetle (Figs. 10, 17); jingles of elongated form; curved horns for the headdress of a swordbearer (Figs. 8, 18); finials for hwedom chairs; and studs for hwedom chairs.

Fig. 5 Silver ornaments: beads, hairpin, cane head, amulets, hairpin length 10.4cm
Private collection