المركز الأفريقي للاستشارات African Center for Consultancy

Ghana has recovered more than 130 rare gold and bronze artifacts dating from the late 19th to early 20th century, which had been kept abroad for over a century.
The handover ceremony took place at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, where King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II received the repatriated items from the United Kingdom and South Africa.
The collection includes royal crowns, drums, and gold weights used in rituals and official ceremonies, some of which date back between 45 and 160 years. These objects reflect the history of governance, spiritual beliefs, and the central role of gold in Ashanti culture.
King Osei Tutu II expressed gratitude to South African mining company AngloGold Ashanti, which returned several pieces it had purchased on the open market.
The collection also features items from Geneva’s Barbier-Mueller Museum, originally acquired by Swiss researcher Josef Müller in 1904, and donations from British art historian Hermione Waterfield, founder of the Tribal Art Department at Christie’s auction house in 1971.
Among the most notable pieces is a historic wooden drum believed to have been seized during the 1900 Siege of Kumasi by British forces — an event symbolizing the Ashanti Kingdom’s resistance to British colonial invasion.
The Ashanti Kingdom was one of the most powerful and wealthy political entities in West Africa, ruling much of present-day Ghana from the late 17th century until its annexation by Britain in 1901.