yea yoda's right its a mold for casting soft coins but its so damaged , can you tell what details e.if any it migh give from the photos.. , I think there for the tokens that go on suries, the foil coins that make chimes
Hm.. So coins for decoration you mean? It has the numbers 1111 on the other part, and same pattern as this side.
I went to a historical museum in Marrakesh, and they got big eyes and told me it was authentic. Other than that, I don't know. The English wasn't the best from their part. And a nother guy told me the side you see was authentic, and the other part wasn't.
This is some French artifact I found in the same boutique. Can 'you' tell me something about this? It has the inscription "Ville de Rosendael"
Well the six-pointed star is generally associated with Judaism - the Star of David. So probably some sort of religious tokens were made from the mold. I don't know what "authentic" would mean in this context, but the mold certainly looks like it's been well-used. The deposits appear to be leftover slag that's hardened into the recesses.
Five pointed stars are extremely common in Muslim countries included Morocco, each point represents a pillar of Islam, not so sure about the six pointed star thought.
I wonder it they switched to a 5-pointed star in order to differentiate from the Star of David. The current Morroccan flag also has a 5-pointed star. But given the lack of inscription on the mold, I still think it would have been used to make religious, or possibly patriotic, or as has been suggested already, ornamental tokens.
If you do a Google search for "Morocco coins" and look at the images, you can see there are a lot of different combinations of five and six stars, sometimes the five inside the six. I don't know the significance myself. I also doubt that mold was for coins though. Doesn't seem like a very efficient way to mass produce them, and it looks pretty crude.
It's actually very quick and efficient, if you're willing to settle for weak pieces. You don't need to cast blanks or adjust them - just pour the metal into the mold, let it cool, then break off the coins. The technique was used occasionally in the ancient world. The problem is, as the metal cools, it contracts, and distorts the devices on the coin. Cast coins never have the level of detail you find in struck ones. It appears the one you posted is just such an example.
Better pics of the other part of the mold would help but I agree that it looks like it was made to cast older moroccans coins...
