One of my favorite and, in my opinion, most accomplished early Mexico City repousse maestros, Abraham Tobias, signs this bold Deco silver cuff bracelet. Tobias was a contemporary of Matilde Poulat's and quite often his jewelry are based on her designs. He excelled in the so-called Mexico City repousse style and here he is contributing to the tradition of the sought-after "Aztec Rose" cuffs...

Just shy of 2" long, I give you the third and last and definitely quirkiest set of Sigi Pineda silver earrings I have been talking about. I happened to come upon the first of these in early summer, fell in love with its cartoonish strangeness - I had never seen this line of Sigi's before. And since all good things come in threes, I found two more pairs in the months following that initial discovery...

Set in a raised bezel on a hand-hammered sterling platform the “mask” in this vintage Carmen Beckmann brooch is carved out of dyed calcite, often - and mistakenly - referred to as “jade”. Oxidation and a geometric glyph applique add complexity to the design and the portrait’s minimalist rendition brings to mind the more austere of ancient artifacts unearthed from the Mexican soil...

The last example of a small Los Castillo "onix negro" jewelry collection I acquired a little time ago, this mod bracelet is perfect for the medium to smaller wrist. Its thick links remind me of mahjong tiles and I am captivated by their minimalist geometry. Easy to wear yet definitely a bracelet whose weight feels warm and familiar when you have it on - the perfect accessory to add that little bit of style to make it special. Measuring 6 3/8" long (wearable) by 1/2" wide it weighs 50.0 grams...

Slick, less-is-more design and a beautifully carved amethyst "mask" make this vintage 1950s Mexican sterling silver ring easy to wear and a real treat for the eye! There is something masculine about the simplicity of the ring itself that is, however, tempered by the delicately soft, slender features of the stone "face". The amethyst is here semi-translucent and the absence of intense inclusions allows the light to penetrate it and make it look like purple Italian ice...

The most fun Sigi Pineda earrings I have ever had, this set is in fact the first in a series of three pairs I will be presenting, all in the same design vein. Quirky and definitely playful, the figures look as if springing out of a child's sketch book. Human? Penguin? A combination of the two? Whatever the case, they are striking, rendered in silver and opaque black oxidation, a surrealist representation of wearable bipeds...

Question marks, whether straight or inverted, seem to have provided a fun, tongue-in-cheeck motif when Taxco maestros were designing earrings. I have seen them hanging off repousse semi-spheres, studded with turquoise cabs and even having cascabeles themselves. Yet this big, bold and beautiful set goes above and beyond its peers. Sculptural repoussage, tiny beading accents and oxidation combine here with gorgeous bezel-set amethyst cabs in a curvaceous, sexy pair of Mexican Deco earrings...

The links in this Deco Mexican silver necklace by Victoria , to the world Ana Maria Nunez de Brilanti, are inspired by cactus flowers and hand-wrought in sterling silver sheet with good thickness. One of my favorite designs by her, it was available in at least two different widths and the example at hand is the narrower, easier to wear version no matter what the occasion or the ... weather is...

I promised yesterday that I had two more of those Sigi Pineda surrealist figures dangle earring sets to present and here is the second pair. There is something as endearing as it is quirky about the specific design line - I am not sure what Sigi was into when he created these - but I find them all weirdly irresistible. Overlay and oxidation are used here too to convey the human form, its hands crossed on the chest, turning a minimalist profile away from the onlooker...

Big, beautifully crafted and early as is indicated by the low design number this Deco Los Castillo silver brooch is wrought en repoussage in what seems to have been a favored motif among Mexican silversmiths and designers at the time. Fern leaves inspired rings, clamper bracelets, brooches and necklaces and of course, earrings. The design comes in variations enough to ensure that everybody will find a piece that appeals to them. The specific version, however, I have never encountered before...

One of Taxco's early maestros, Jose Luis Flores worked for Aguilar as well as for Emma and Miguel Melendez. Carefully crafted and meticulously finished, his jewelry is often based on creations by his more renowned colleagues yet he can be quite creative and original himself. In my opinion, he is at his best within the realm of modernist design and I believe that the bracelet presented here attests to that...

Big and beautifully aged this floral sterling silver Hector Aguilar brooch is representative of the 1940s' love affair with all motifs from nature...

With delicately carved features, this silver and tiger’s eye Egyptian Revival “Cleopatra” bolo tie is a small work of art that came out of the Los Ballesteros workshop. One of the best - and definitely the most persistent - Taxco talleres involved in the creation of exquisite “mask” jewelry, the Los Ballesteros used an array of semi-precious and hard- stones to create serene, out-of-this-world effigies for brooches, rings, bracelets and pendants. This is, however, my first bolo tie b...

Most probably designed by Salvador Teran when he worked for his cousins, the Los Castillo, this pair of Mexican modernist silver dangle earrings is not an easy set to find. Though the Los Castillo did not experiment as much in modernism as some other Taxco maestros and workshops they do count among their creations some amazing examples thanks to Teran's genius. The exaggerated, elongated figures forming the earrings' main body bear the surrealist stamp of Taxco's foremost, in my opinion, moderni...

I have always seen this signed Aguilar but it has been thought to be a Valentin Vidaurreta design. It is thought to resemble a Mask and is a sleek jewel at 5/8's inches tall and weighs a mere 27 grams of thick silver. The silver is 940 pure and with no damage but plenty of glare. There is a natural dark patina.

Circa mid-century, these cufflinks were produced by Antonio Pineda. They have a superb modernist design, with diamond shaped faceted onyx stones on each end. Four stones in total. These are elegant and classy, and a seldom seen design.

Each cufflink measures approximately 7/8" x 3/4".

Weight is 24.4 grams.

Signed and hallmarked with the Antonio Taxco crown and 970 on each.

Excellent vintage condition.

Gerardo Lopez is one of my favorite Taxco maestros. I believe his talent and workmanship to have been of the same caliber as that of his more famous contemporaries and I am always on the look out for his jewelry. Based on his work, I believe that he must have worked for at least the Los Castillo and/or Margot de Taxco and his prowess in the art of repoussage supports the hypothesis. But he didn't limit himself to the more "straightforward" kind of silversmithing - I have had enameled pieces by h...

An early Taxco maestro, Manuel Altamirano worked for both Aguilar and Valentin Vidaurreta. With the former, he shares what has come to be known as the "armadillo" parure, out of which you can see here the quite impressive belt buckle. Evocative of the “armor plates” covering the body of the namesake creatures, the buckle's links are graduated in size and adorned with short, flat-topped round appliques. Big and bold, it can be worn easily by either men and women and would look equally stunnin...