Lamellaphone

This instrument was one of a number of items from West Africa given by Wyatt George Gibson, Esq., a prominent banker in Saffron Walden who was one of the founding trustees of the museum. It is a lamellaphone, also known as thumb piano, made of a wooden board with four V-shaped lamellas (one missing) made of the hard outer skin of raffia (Raphia sp.), attached to the board with rattan. The bridge and backrest are also made of a thin strip of raffia.