3-065-913 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ashantee golden ornaments and trophies, 1874. 'The prize agents of the British military forces lately serving in the campaign on the Gold Coast sold to Messrs. Garrard, for about £11,000, the articles of gold and other precious material which our troops carried off from Coomassie [ie Kumasi], including...an ugly but characteristic feature of this collection - a human head of massive gold [now in the Wallace Collection], weighing 50 oz. or 60 oz., which seems to represent the head of a victim gagged for sacrifice...On each side of this hideous and horrible effigy is a golden model of a state portable canopy or umbrella. The one to the left is ornamented with a variety of devices, such as wild beasts' teeth and claws, and tufts of hairy mane...[Also shown is one of] two golden griffins, which formed the arms or elbow-rests of King Coffee Calcallee's throne...; two caps of state, and a few circular plates of repoussé work in gold, worn on the breast as badges of official dignity. The two swords of state...are of very singular shape. Instead of a hilt, each blade is attached to a sort of frame, with four golden balls, which served as feet...The broad iron blade, formed like a segment of a disk, is curiously decorated with an open-work pattern'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.