Chameleon? Antique Animal Shaped West African Ashanti Weight hand-sewn as well as two solid

as well as two solid decorative lines along its front

a few small nails on the top perimeter are missing

With beautifully aged red white and blue paint

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

Wonderful for serving nuts

Chameleon? Antique Animal Shaped West African Ashanti Weight hand-sewn as well as two solidTiny, 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.