Gold has always been a symbol of wealth and nobility in Africa. Gold in West Africa was abundant. In fact, the wealthiest man of all time (with a fortune of over $400 billion), Mansa Musa of the Malian Empire who reigned from 1324 to 1337 A.D was known to have given away so much gold in his journey from Mali to Mecca in the city of Cairo, Egypt that it contributed to a brief decline in its value.
Pictured is a gold pectoral disk from the Asante tribe of present day Ghana. It is documented to be from the 1920s likely associated with the revival of manufacturing when the Asante king, Prempeh I returned in 1924 after a forced British exile.