Featured Cast Metal Bangle

India?
I wonder why they choose so complicated method for the design. The gold tone parts are some kind of small beads filler, wrapped in thin sheet and secured with pins.
They could have cast everything together and just gilded whatever needed.

 

Here’s better pics after a bit of cleaning.

 

North African? Could that gold be the real deal and the silver be real silver? It might be lower grade silver, but that would explain why it's not cast in one piece.

 

I thought it was white brass but after I cleaned it I got suspicious about being solid silver. But don’t know if silver should be that heavy, it weights about 4.8 ounces.

 

Here’s the similar.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/670327...query=north+african+bangle&ref=sr_gallery-1-9

 

It is a 'shams u qamar' or 'sun and moon' bangle from the Rif region in northern Morocco.
Only the inside is cast silver, the decorations are repoussé sheet gold and silver. The repoussé pieces are usually supported on the inside by tiny 'cushions' made of tightly wound wool.
The gold and silver stand for the sun and moon. The sun and moon are important symbols in Berber culture. Together they stand for balance and harmony in everything, like yin and yang. Sometimes the silver repoussé is decorated with blue enamel, to symbolize night sky.
Like many ethnic bracelets these were part of a dowry and worn in pairs, often just during the wedding ceremony. They were often sold separately when the need arose or when families lost interest in 'old-fashioned stuff'. I never lose interest in this kind of 'old-fashioned stuff'.

 

Thanks AJ. Actually, the silver is all cast. Just the gold decoration is cushioned.
What is the usual grade of silver, 800?

 

It can be anything between 800 and 950. Looking at this one, my guess is ca 835, Maria Theresia Thaler silver.
Moroccan silver is often marked, look for very tiny hidden marks. They could be anywhere, maybe somewhere on the rim. Any grime-filled tiny indentation, which means you have your work cut out for you.

 

That empress was sometimes called the Matchmaker of Europe or something similar - she had 13 kids to marry off.(LOL) Those trade thalers got around everywhere too; one turned up on this board after a gentleman dug it up in his garden in England. No surprise if someone used those coins to melt down to make the bracelet.

 

They used them for centuries in parts of Africa and Asia because they had a reliable silver fineness of .833. And it is what the European 833-835 fineness is based on.

 

Yep. They were still circulating during the first World War. Later too, probably. I found a half thaler here once, come to it; someone had drilled it as a watch fob. My guess would be some guy in the Army during one War or the other brought it home as a souvenir.