Handmade in North Africa

Moroccan - Ethnic Amazigh

Antique coin - 130 and 133 years old

Two available

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 - .5 ounces each

Interior ring diameter - .75 inch

Stick length - 1.5 inches

Total brooch length - 3 inches

Width - 1 inch

This pair of brooches was made from quarter-Rial denomination coins that were minted in the Muslim years 1310 and 1312.  It's currently 1445.  

These two pins seem to have been intended as a pair. The coins used, however, were minted in two different years. The alloy color of the metal appears the same. At first I thought they were cast complete rather than fabricated from finished coins.  But the fact the coins were minted in different years suggests that idea is incorrect.

Amazigh jewelry often uses coins. Women literally wore their wealth. In addition to these coin brooches, women wore necklaces with coins ornaments and headdresses adorned with coins.

The wires for these pins are a bit crude but feel nicely hardened, making this appropriate to wear with fingering or worsted weight yarns. The rings on the bottom of the pins can accept a thin chain or small cord, allowing the pins to be worn as pendants. The ring would have connected to a necklace strung between two brooches, which would have been worn at the front of each shoulder.