REGION: Africa
COUNTRY: Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
YEAR PRINTED: 1960
VALUE: 6 West African CFA francs
This stamp is one of a set of nine celebrating the traditional masks of the Côte d’Ivoire, issued in the year of its independence from French colonization. This specific stamp represents a helmet mask of the Senufo ethnic group, called kponyugo. Single-faced kponyugo masks such as these are used together with double-faced wanyugo masks by the all-male Poro Society during funerals of important tribal leaders and at purification ceremonies.
