Gallery

Comments

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  Toya May 18, 2011 at 4:40pm

  I can't tell you anything except that I love it. Beautiful piece. Do you wear it? Also, I  love this idea of posting "mystery pieces". I have a few myself and will post them at a later date.
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  Alaa eddine SAGID May 18, 2011 at 5:38pm

  first tell me if the couloured parts are enameled or simply painted? is the material silver?

   

  indeed this fibulas is quite mysterious to me as i have never seen boxes wich serves as fibulas at the same time.

  usually boxes are hanged to fibulas (but i bet you know that :-) )

   

  The filgree work is reminescent to that of the Ait ouaouzguit tribe as well as the coulours(they also used painting to replace enamel) but here they use very simplistic designs, more urban more westernized (flowers and domes)

  The pin is wery well crafted wich is not usually the case for tousit oriented memorabilia.

   

  I have already seen jewellery from this region using pink couloured glass cabochons so it is not odd

   

  I would say that this belongs to the pieces of  jewellery that have been crafted around this region and was only done once......there is a great amount of unique pieces that are not antique to have survived alone from a major trend and were not in the taste of local women to entice a large scale production.

  Odd square shaped earrings, very heavy headresses...ect...

   

  the ait ouaouzguit silversmiths and those of the surrouding tribes (towards the central anti-atlas and the saharan oasises) have showed great prolific work with an abundance of creativity completely different in style from what is patronised in the region

   

  i think that you are maybe in posession of an unique old genuine piece who was crafted womewhere around the mid 20Th century (if it is painted) maybe older if it bears real enamel;

   

  cheers
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  SARAH CORBETT May 18, 2011 at 11:18pm

  My thoughts would also be Ait ouaouzguite. The colourings and the pink glass seem to be representative of the region.

  Warm wishes

  Sarah
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  Ethnic Embellishments May 24, 2011 at 12:52am

  This piece has enamel, not paint.  It is cracked, almost "orange peel"-like, as if it was not heated quite enough when applied.  It also appears as though the mail body is a white metal while the top filigrain portion is silver.  The side of the box also has incised decorations.  I'll try to take some more photos soon.  The box portion actually reminds me of a fragrancer, though without the usual holes to let the scent come out.
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  Alaa eddine SAGID August 8, 2011 at 4:00am

  I finally found one reference book having a pair similar to this fibula.

   

  The book is a scarce heavy moroccan edition titled "TIZERZAI / La fibule au Maroc" with tens and tens of fibulas from all around the country.

   

  On page 121 They have a pair very similar to yours with the only difference being the central cabachon is made out of a coral bead and with a complete enamel loss.

   

  Label states that it is very very scarce and that it should probably be "ait ouaouzguit"
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  Ethnic Embellishments August 8, 2011 at 5:49am

  If you have a way to photograph that page of the book and it's not too much trouble, I'd love to see what the other one looks like.  Actually, I got this piece from Steven Scott, a member here who is selling his mother's items, so it's been in the US since the 1970's at least.  I've found that there are many old military families in the US that have great pieces, probably picked up during World War II during the North African campaign as souvenirs.
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  Alaa eddine SAGID August 8, 2011 at 12:06pm

  Here they are.

   

  they have less elaborate filgree and they have completely lost their enamel