Handmade in North Africa

Moroccan - Ethnic Amazigh

Antique of undetermined age

One remaining.

Indigenous silver - probably 70% - 80% 

Please note - this is not 92.5 silver.  These are historic pieces that were not trying to conform to international standards of metal purity. They were for local use.

Weight - .7 ounces each

Interior ring diameter - 7/8 inches

Stick length - 1.1 inches

Total brooch length - 3.5 inches

Width - 1 inches

This brooch was cast and fabricated and is the last remaining Moroccan shawl brooch I have.  This one is a stylized tortoise, which was conceptualized in an Amazigh cosmology, as the basis for the universe;; the Tortoise, carries the world on its back. This pin references that foundational solid position. I think it's quite marvelous to think about that - the notion that the foundation of the universe is what is holding your shawl in place.

This style is a very wearable scale and weight for fingering weight fiber. It is not suitable for very heavy or chunky fiber as the ring diameter is insufficient to secure multiple layers of very thick material.

Take a look at this Instagram post where I style a shawl using two brooches, worn at the fronts of the shoulders as an Amazigh woman would have.  They are absolutely knockout like this.  You just might want to consider doing it like this too . . .