Chameleon? Antique Animal Shaped West African Ashanti Weight hand-sewn Wonderful for serving nuts

Wonderful for serving nuts

where the Knowles Steam Pump factory operated in the last quarter of the 1800s

a few small nails on the top perimeter are missing

its character unfolding across 360 degrees

and I must admit I am wary of taken more than a few pieces apart for fear of not being able to put it back together

Chameleon? Antique Animal Shaped West African Ashanti Weight hand-sewn Wonderful for serving nutsTiny, but really wonderful, I believe this is a Akan (now Ghana) West African Ashnati weigh, used to for measuring out gold and gold dust, usually for trade. These weights, frequently figural and often in the shape of animals, were typically made of brass, as I believe this one is, cast using the lost wax method. I am tempted to say, with its large eye and coiled tail, that this one is meant to represent a chameleon, but I am not completely certain.