Sun symbol Manilla 231 g, Western African commodity money, antique bronze, 1500 -1850 AD, Weight: 231 g = 8.1 oz. ; External diameter: 66 mm; Internal diameter: 48 mm; Provenance: private collection in Germany; Manillas are a form of commodity money, usually made of bronze or copper, which were used in West Africa.[1] They were produced in large numbers in a wide range of designs, sizes, and weights. Originating before the colonial period, perhaps as the result of trade with the Portuguese Empire, Manillas continued to serve as money and decorative objects until the late 1940s and are still sometimes used as decoration. In popular culture, they are particularly associated with the Atlantic slave trade.[2] Origins and etymology: The name manilla is said to derive from the Spanish[1] for a 'bracelet' manilla, the Portuguese for 'hand-ring' manilha,[3] or after the Latin manus (hand) or from monilia, plural of 'monile (necklace).[4] They are usually horseshoe-shaped, with terminations that face each other and are roughly lozenge-shaped. The earliest use of manillas was in West Africa. As a means of exchange they originated in Calabar. Calabar was the chief city of the ancient southeast Nigerian coastal kingdom of that name. It was here in 1505 that a slave could be bought for 8–10 manillas, and an elephant’s tooth for one copper manila.[5] Manillas bear some resemblance to torcs or torques in being rigid and circular and open-ended at the front.