Vanilla economics

Manillas^{[pronunciation?]} are a form of commodity money, usually made of brass, bronze, or copper, which were used in West Africa.^[1] They were produced in large numbers in a wide range of designs, sizes, and weights. Originating before the colonial period, perhaps as the result of trade with the Portuguese Empire, manillas continued to serve as money and decorative objects until the late 1940s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Benin