Spear money "Kundja" Basongo-Meno

The Basongo-Meno occupied territory in the central Congo Basin where iron currency circulated as genuine transactional money rather than ceremonial prestige object — used in bride price negotiations, debt settlement, and regional trade. The kundja form, with its elongated blade and socketed shaft, reflects the dual function iron objects carried in this economy: their value was partly intrinsic to the metal itself, which could be reforged if necessary.

Unlike the more widely documented Congolese currency forms that attracted early colonial collection, Basongo-Meno pieces entered Western holdings in comparatively small numbers, and provenance documentation from the pre-independence period is thin.