1796 Mexican 8 Reales Turned Pendant, Is It Possible To Determine Ethnic Origin?

@new, I'll speculate a little, but am definitely interested in others' thoughts.

These sorts of low silver content drops often seem to have origins on the Indian subcontinent. I would think that anything produced by native Americans would generally have turquoise. For proof of origin, I think that you would need to get the exact alloy composition of the home-made loops, including trace elements.

Also, for some further speculation, I'm not convinced that this coin is real. It seems awfully porous and has fuzzy details compared to a struck coin. Let's see what others think.

@Spence Thank you for the reply!

If this piece was a cast counterfeit, would this coin have come out of the mold in a state similar to how it appears in the photo, or would additional years of circulation be needed to give it the level of detail that appears on the coin now?

Looks cast to me. Loss of detail across the whole coin. A real coin that was very worn would still have uneven wear, some parts in better shape than other parts.
Possibly sea salvage I suppose. If it were real. But I don't think so. If sea salvage the surface would be very high silver, as salt water leaches out other metals faster than silver.
I would try the magnet slide test to see if the niobium magnet slides slow on the coin.

Here's a few more photos.

The word "coolies" on the photos suggests the East Indian diaspora as field workers in the British Caribbean colonies. That culture is described in V. S. Naipaul's books. He grew up in Trinidad in the 1940's. His book A House for Mr. Biswas loosely describes his father's story of upward mobility, from field labor to journalism. The migration started a century earlier, and by Naipaul's time was a distinct emigre culture in the Caribbean. The books are detailed and satirical. In one of the funnier passages, a well-off family considers itself more traditionally Indian than people that living in India. You can see that national pride in the photos.

Cast 8R as a jewelry piece... many such of pieces out of southern Mexico and Guatemala.You will often see them paired with quetzal bird charms, Guatemala or Mexico 1/4 real coins, etc. - the cast 8R would be a centerpiece.

Any similarity to cultural practices of Indian subcontinentals and their descendants in Guyana or Trinidad would be purely coincidental!! Lots of cultures wore coin jewelry...

@Spence + @threefifty - you guys are correct, I think this is a cast counterfeit copy. It's porous and the details are definitely fuzzy.

Would anyone be able to guess whether this is contemporary or modern? The added charm piece appears to be worn down quite a bit, particularly at the points where the charm would be hanging. Also, the ball is convex on one side, but flat on the other (poured?). All added parts appears to have been done by hand. Metal content seems to not be 90% or high silver. My guess is either low silver content or white metal (similar feel to 1897 Dominican Republic 1 peso piece). I would need to conduct a specific gravity test to be sure. Coin is not 100% flat, but slightly bent (starts at Carolus's chin, slightly visible in photo below, fold starts at Carolus's nose and moves straight to the "AT"). There is no edge design or very faint traces of it. The edge is 99% flat with very very slight remnents of circles/squares and reeds. The piece overall does appear to have general wear, with no sharp edge.

What do you all think? I greatly appreciate any input!