Catalog: Estate Jewelry: Silver (310)

Sets of bangle bracelets are bound to lighten the spirit and brighten the day with their music and, if they are also studded with stones like the ones at ... hand, the splashes of color they scatter around. Made in the middle period of Taxco's 20th c. Silver Renaissance and signed by listed yet still unidentified maestros, these two came to me as a pair and this is the way I would like to send them out to their next new, loving home...

I love zodiac jewelry and thankfully so did the old Mexican maestros! Yet over the years I have noticed that no matter what their form (rings, brooches or bracelets), they are being snatched up with increasing fervor. So saying that they are becoming more difficult to find would not be an understatement, especially for rings which are an already challenging area of collecting in the vintage Mexican jewelry world...

Hinged bangle bracelets whether gem- or hard stone-studded, wrought in shadow-box or simply crafted in bold, massive silver are among my favorite designs by the Los Ballesteros workshop. The modernist, generously wide version at hand with its impressed “nested ellipses” and its bezel-set green jaspers is a first one for me...

It is always vexing when a hallmark eludes identification and this is (almost) the case with the towering vintage silver ring at hand. Brutalist in design, having a big, semi-translucent chrysoprase cabochon nested in its elevated setting, it bears a partial hallmark which has been suggested to me is probably a maker’s mark from Spain. Home of renowned modernist designers such as Joachim S’Paliu and Puig Doria, Spain sounds like a plausible place of origin for our 1970s ring...

Towering presence and one of the yummiest amethyst quartz spheres you have ever seen make this vintage Joachim S'Paliu ring a must-have addition to every well-dresser's jewelry box. Perched high up on a substantial concave sterling block the stone vibrates with the movement of purple, violet and light lavender waves that swirl around within it and the shank's chunky geometry matches the stone's proportions perfectly...

Impressive in size this vintage Janna Thomas Mexican silver pendant is an example of the "pluma Azteca" technique which incorporates vividly colored bird feathers in sterling jewelry. Very reminiscent of plique-a-jour work, "pluma Azteca" was introduced by the Los Castillo workshop and it is a demanding, difficult process so it was emulated by just a handful of other Taxco maestros. Thomas excelled in it, however, and her pieces are sought after by knowledgeable collectors...

Timelessly elegant this vintage Mexican silver Carmen Beckmann ring features a “toi et moi” design with two sparkling color-change sapphires in substantial crown settings. This is a more “demure” Beckmann, if I am allowed the use of the word in this context, reaching for a classic look with clean, lean lines and minimal adornment...

Slick, strong design that brings to mind the best of Scandinavian modernism, this sterling silver studio-made necklace consisting of neck ring and pendant is an unsigned American beauty...

I am a big fan of Carmen Beckmann’s Etruscan style jewelry - her domed Etruscan ring is a foundational piece in my collection and I enjoy it thoroughly. There is something about the way the wire-work and tiny florets with their bead centers oxidize with time that creates an air of warm, comfortable luxury around them that gets me every time. I could easily see the dangle earrings at hand worn by dignified Roman matrons leisurely enjoying their honeyed wine...

Made in the 1960s, this vintage Mexican sterling silver bracelet consists of figural disks developing in a row defined by lengths of double-woven, thick chain. I have seen this combination featuring three different kinds of disk designs. While here we have depictions of the country's history as well as symbols of its old religion (a jaguar warrior portrait, Quetzalcoatl, Mexico's state Eagle) the specific bracelet design can be found with Mexican coins or representations of the zodiac cycle...

A puzzling piece - though it is signed “Birks”, the hallmark does not look like the Canadian company’s commonly encountered marks - this vintage sterling vermeil pin is a small work of art. Slender and elegant, the flower it represents consists of a textured silver stem while its leaves and bloom are made of molded jadeite glass. The glass is supple and glistens thanks to the glaze that was applied over it and the brooch has that romantic, nature-loving air of 1940s jewelry...

If I saw this piece from far away, I would think it's a poison ring - that's how impressive in size and lift its gallery is. Yet not to worry, there is no hidden compartment here and you won't be tempted to become a modern-day Lucrezia Borgia! Beauty and commanding presence, though, yes! There is a lot of that in the sodalite's dark blue depths with their cloudy grey swirls and that river of black cutting across right through the cab's middle...

Matching the highly geometric cuff bracelet that is also available in my store, this vintage Los Castillo Mexican silver modernist ring still cherishes the austere angularity of the Deco years. Set in channels defined by sterling wires, the saturated blues and greens of the azur-malachite inlay clearly mark it as belonging to the workshop's "mozaico Azteca" line...

Made in 1978, this vintage English sterling silver ring epitomizes the timeless appeal of Wedgwood jasper "cameo" rings. Wedgwood jasperware cut across genre divides and come in several colors but this darker blue (along with black) is my favorite of all. Hailing from Greece, I appreciate the Greek Revival figural applique as well as the sweet serenity the image of mother-and-child imparts...

Made in Porto as is indicated by the hallmarks it bears, this vintage sterling hinged bangle is adorned all around with a repousse architectural design. Crisply rendered, the motifs are easily readable to the eye and the juxtaposition between raised surfaces and recesses enhances the bracelet’s sculpturality. Definitely comparable with similar pieces by Portugal’s celebrated makers like Topazio and Safir, this is a piece worthy to be worn alone but it is equally enjoyable in a stack as you c...

I always loved "reindeer moss" jewelry and I expected, when I would finally get one, that it would hail from Finland. Little did I know that it would actually come from the other end of the world. But here it is, magically exotic, reminiscent of ancient forests, with trees dripping in the cool mist, their floors soft with fallen leaves and pine needles. There is something very serene about this ring, something that creates the feeling of brushing against Nature's ancient shoulder as one embarks ...

Maestro Mateo of Taxco is known among vintage jewelry collectors for his modernist, mostly brutalist, ring designs. His work is sought after for its quality, the beauty of the stones he incorporates in his pieces and the strong sense of tension that his rings exude. His career strides the divide between the so-called Eagle mark period and that of the T-marks and, in my experience, he is one of the very few silversmiths who used .950 alloys before they became the norm in the 1980s. When I came up...

A mid-century Los Castillo Mexican silver and stone inlay belt buckle, this is a piece out the workshop's "onix negro" series. I have said before that the specific technique is a challenging one both for the silversmith and the lapidary as the stone has to be cut exactly to the dimensions of the silver elements that will be inlaid in it. Yet here too the prowess of the maestros who created the buckle is evident in the absolutely smooth "image" they created by combining the two materials - if you...