"Sugar Hammer - Tuareg - Probably Morocco Aït Youssi Culture Early 20th Century - N°1"
Copper - patina and wear, micro shocks from use - inlaid with silver motifs (low grade). First half of the 20th century. This hammer is symbolic of the importance of tea in Tuareg culture. This drink is in fact consumed eight to nine times a day, its traditional preparation requiring sugar acquired in the form of a long cone or "sugar loaf". In 1934, Georges Henri-Rivière, from the Trocadéro Museum of Ethnography, was in charge of the "Sahara" exhibition. This major international exhibition presented prehistoric, geological, zoological and ethnographic collections. Some sugar loaves and sugar hammers and tongs were exhibited (see photos at the end of the slideshow). 
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