File:Post-Medieval Currency Bar (manilla) (FindID 769617).jpg

English: A fragment of a post-Medieval copper-alloy penannular ring, possibly a manilla (c. 1500-c. 1900).

This fragment is about 30% of the total object. It has an expanded oval terminal with a flat face which measures 11.6 x 9.3mm. The hoop is oval in cross-section and measures 8.2 x 6.3mm.

The object is corroded with traces of a brown patina. The break is abraded.

Length: 59.6mm; width: 11.6mm; thickness: 9.3mm. Weight: 19.02g. The internal diameter is estimated to have been about 45.0mm when complete.

These items, known as 'manillas' (the Portuguese word for bracelet), can vary in size and style and were treated as ingots. They were usually made in Europe to exchange for trade items including slaves, in countries such as Nigeria, and were commonly used from the late 15th century until the 19th century, although some were still used in the earlier half of the 20th century. Manillas are also sometimes known as 'bracelet money' or 'legband money' and they mimic the bracelets worn to display wealth, although bracelets or legbands were used to store and display wealth in West Africa long before the local populations had any sea contact with Europeans. They were usually melted down and recast when they reached Africa. This meant that manillas were regarded as currency rather than jewellery and led to mass production in standardised sizes for trading purposes. This manilla is likely to be of the type classified as 'Late British' or Okpoho and probably dates to the 18th-19th century. Although most were exported to Africa a few have been found in this country, including some recorded through the PAS. A complete half-mould for a manilla similar to this example was found during the 1984 excavations at Cowick Street, Exeter. Blaycock (2000) comments "They [manillas] were widely exported to West Africa in the 16th century and later, and have been identified as the source of the raw material from the famous cast bronzes of Benin. Whilst it has long been known that manillas were widely produced in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries (in Bristol and Birminham amongst other places) the Cowick Street finds attest that manillas were produced in this country at a much earlier date than had previously been known." (p. 45). (Blaylock, S. 'Excavation of an Early-Post Medieval Bronze Foundry at Cowick Street, Exeter, 1999-2000' (Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings vol. 58, 2000).

The object bears some resemblance to a Middle - Late Bronze Age 'buffer' terminal bracelet from the Ornament Horizon. However, in the recorders opinion it is more likely to be a Manilla of post-Medieval date. This is based on size, form patina and corrosion.

Similar objects have been recorded on The Portable Antiquities Scheme database. For example, see finds: CORN-31B3A7; GAT-649317; KENT-22ED41; LANCUM-41B6C5; NMGW-563727; PUBLIC-1C6486; SUSS-2F8013; SUSS-8B6027; SWYOR-C24C11 and WMID-22DE66.