Gold mask, 20 cm in height, weighing 1.36 kg of pure gold, seized by the British from Kumasi, Ghana, in 1874 and now in the Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom

A recent visit to London reminded me that apart from the British Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum many other museums in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom are still holding onto African cultural artefacts which, to put it very  mildly, were removed from the continent under conditions and circumstances which can be considered as questionable.  One such museum is the Wallace Collection, London. (2)

Once in the museum, our attention was drawn to the Asante golden trophy head and swords which are displayed in the Wallace Collection. This spectacular piece of the Asante regalia looted by the British has been described by Fagg as “the largest gold work known from Ashanti or indeed from anywhere in Africa outside Egypt”. (3)

Next to these Asante objects was a short notice which read as follows:

“Part of the Treasure of Kofi Karikari, King of Ashanti (Asante,now Ghana in West Africa) 1867-75, consisting of two ceremonial SWORDS, A PAIR OF TERMINALS from a Chair of State, three FINGER RINGS, a KNIFE HANDLE (incorporated into a paper knife), a DAGGER KNIFE  and a TROPHY HEAD, all of virgin gold. Taken during Field Marshall Viscount Wolseley’s punitive expedition of 1873-4 and subsequently auctioned for charity”.

A reader who looks at the Guidebook of the Wallace Collection (6^th Edition, 2010) will not find a section on Africa or on Ghana. The Asante objects are not found or mentioned in any of the pamphlets or books that should assist orientation in the Wallace Collection. In the museum itself however, the Asante objects are placed in the section called Oriental Armoury where the brilliance of the Asante gold cannot be overlooked...

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