This is possibly an ivory trade token, 133 mm in diameter, and inscribed ‘John Pepper Brig Highfield, A Good Man’. The significance of trade tokens is yet to be established, but they were presumably used as pledges or receipts. This one, however, may be a bracelet identifying John Pepper, an enslaved member of the crew of the brig ‘Highfield’ as “a good man”.
With changing attitudes towards hunting and because African elephants are now in danger of extinction, the trade in ivory is now banned.
© National Museums Liverpool
Accession reference: National Museums Liverpool, Maritime Collection 4427M
Themes
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Africa before Transatlantic Enslavement
The history of Africa and African people does not begin nor end with transatlantic slavery. Understand what Africa was like and what the continent lost as a result of the trade.
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Trade and Commerce
Understand how the demand for luxury goods and the Industrial Revolution fuelled the transatlantic slave trade, and how the British…
Background Reading
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The Lost Libraries Of Timbuktu
Until recently, many commentators on Africa claimed that African societies had no tradition of writing. With the rediscovery of ancient manuscript collections, some dating back to the 8th century AD, this perception is changing.
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Introduction To Various African Kingdoms