The Jean Kenyon McKenzie Collection of Abbia gambling chips, produced and used by men of the Beti traditional society of Cameroon, date from the early to mid-20th century. Abbia chips are small carved oval shaped discs approximately 1x2 inches. They are used in a game of chance, a form of gambling involving a minimum of four players who bet on the outcome of tossing a basket containing both carved and uncarved chips. It follows the principles of "heads" or "tails", except, the winner is determined by the position of all the chips and there ratio to each other. Chips are carved in low relief from the seed of an elan tree, ("Mimusops Congolensis"). There are hundreds of known designs, which are representational in style and include diverse subjects: animals, plants humans; manufactured objects, trade goods, masks and musical instruments. "Abbia" chips in the collection are predominantly figurative and animal motifs.
