Catalog (325)

I love vintage Portuguese silver bracelets, the repousse hinged bangles more specifically, for which makers like Topazio and Safir are well known. They come in all sizes and designs, they are ideal for bracelet stacks but can be just as easily enjoyed worn alone. The example at hand is floral, with sculptural roses and dahlias in full bloom and in bud running its perimeter, rendered more dramatic by the patina time has bestowed upon them. The bracelet has an 7” inner circumference (clasped) an...

I love Portuguese silver hinged bangle bracelets - the variety of designs, the beguiling fleshiness of their repoussage and the possibility of stacking them for a Bohemian look fascinates me. Presented here is narrow version of the "harvest fruits and flowers" motif and it looks stunning! The oxidation enhances the rounded bodies of corn, grapes, apples and pears while there is a touch of Art Nouveau elegance in the florals next to the hinge and clasp. The bangle has been mistakenly stamped by i...

A variation of Antonio's amethyst cluster necklaces that doesn't come up often, this modernist dream is wrought in Pineda's signature fine, .970 alloy and adorned with richly colored stones. The renowned Taxco designer plays with a-symmetry here as the necklace's focal point, the stylized amethyst floral cascade, reaches out from the back of the neck and unfolds itself on its right side instead of occupying the center front. Each link rests its outer perimeter on the body but rises slightly abov...

"Mask" jewelry is not a rarity in the world of vintage Mexican silver yet the portrayals are almost always of ancient, Mesoamerican faces. And even though I am a very big fan of them as long as both the carving and the setting is interesting, I am thrilled to be presenting here a big brooch by A. Tobias housing the portrait of a more "contemporary" man. There is something in this "mask" that screams "Roman" to me and I know the typology might not even justify it but that was my initial reaction ...

One of my favorite female designers of Mexico's 20th c. Silver Renaissance (and admittedly, they aren't so many to begin with), Carmen Beckmann was a rather flexible maestra, able to create in many different styles. using a variety of materials. Her jewelry can be massive and jaw-dropping but quite as easily delicate and more sophisticated. The bracelet I am presenting here I call rare not so much for its design (which I have not seen before) but primarily for the scarcely seen snowflake obsidia...

Hand-wrought in its entirety and a design that I have never encountered before, this early Mexican silver repousse necklace is an anonymous beauty. Its early date is attested to by the fact that it's strung on cotton thread (one of the earliest Aguilar "lyre" necklaces I sold was strung on cotton as well) and has a spring ring clasp. Not signed for maker nor metal content or origin, it is adorned by an elongated cascabela attached to the central station in an adorable yet naive way. I have to ad...

How often does one find a ring by renowned Taxco modernist Enrique Ledesma? Let me answer my question - almost never! Over the years of my buying, selling and researching vintage Mexican silver jewelry, I have come upon a few examples, almost all of them adorned with a color-change sapphire. I had never seen a ring in the design I am presenting here until I discovered this one some time ago. All other pieces in the parure (necklaces, bracelets, brooches and earrings) can be found relatively easi...

A rare, spectacular Erika Hult de Corral set consisting of two square sterling silver bangles with wood inlay (I believe probably rosewood) this pair is a feast for the eyes and such a treat for the vintage Mexican jewelry collector who also seeks out the few (but amazingly talented) female designers of the field. Ric (as Hult de Corral signed her pieces) studied at the Parson's School of Design in Paris and before opening her own workshop during Taxco's "middle period", she worked for both Sigi...

One of the most elusive pieces designed by Danish modernist Hans Hansen, this sterling silver neck ring has been in my collection for a long time. The idea was to get a pendant by the same designer so as to complete the necklace but it never happened and I decided to give that same opportunity to someone else out there. So if you have been looking for a Hansen neck ring and have not been able to find one, here is your golden chance. This is a good size too and at 1/8" thick it is heftier than si...

A rare example of Jose Luis Flores's work to come upon, this distinctly modernist necklace made my day when I discovered it. I have in the past sold the matching bracelet to it but this specific form eluded me for the longest of times and I am thrilled to be offering it here. Made up of links constructed using overlay, hand-cutting and chasing as well as oxidation, it brings to mind Teran's biomorphism and the design's execution is flawless. No wonder many of Flores's jewelry are also signed for...

An iconic personality for advocates of female empowerment, Jeanne d’ Arc is not a figure I expected to see on a piece of jewelry by the Los Castillo. I look at the pendant and I see Margot de Taxco at her drawing table, sketch pencil in hand, making the French heroine materialize on paper before she is cast in sterling silver. Very unusual - I have never seen one before - the pendant is crafted “cameo style”, with Jeanne d’ Arc on horseback, brandishing her sword in full armor for the fo...

Signed by Mary Gage, the eccentric yet talented silversmith (among other vocations!) of the late American Arts and Crafts movement, this wide sterling silver band ring is entirely hand-wrought and features her signature "lily pads" motif. It seems that Gage crafted this ring in 14k yellow gold as well which probably explains why, if you look really closely to the clusters of tiny beading separating the lily pads, you will spot two or three that are made of gold. Generously wide, with a fantastic...

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...

I am thrilled to have stumbled upon this amazing, quintessentially Deco and quite rare Mexican silver and stone ring! Though this piece is not signed for maker, the design is a known Fred Davis creation and as I have recently noted in one of my descriptions, Davis was never as adamant as Spratling was in hallmarking all jewelry coming out of his workshop. So out there, there are many Davis creations that are simply not marked fully and I believe this beauty might easily be one of them. Bold in i...

Sized for a man (yet resizable by a jeweler to fit a woman as well) this vintage Mexican silver and carved amethyst "mask" ring attracted me with its unusual brutalist setting. I don't think I have ever encountered a "mask" in a brutalist ring and I was quite thrilled with the discovery despite the fact that the stone was showing its age and the shank was burdened with a huge blob of solder thanks to somebody's clumsy attempt at resizing. It just took some love and a trip to the jeweler's - and ...

A rarely surfacing pair of stunning Miguel Martinez earrings, this set reinterprets neo-Aztec elements in a modernist, almost surrealist way. I consider Martinez's jewelry to be among the best examples of 20th c. Taxco design and silver-smithing, always a feast for the eyes and perfectly finished. Here two different finishes in the silver combine with purposefully applied oxidation to lend body to the appliques and render the fan-shaped element at the top more dramatic against its black backgrou...

Rings by Victoria of Taxco, one of the few ladies of Mexico's 20th c. Silver Renaissance that are known to us, are such rare finds, they actually touch upon the impossible. If one is really lucky, one might find a shadowbox example from her "angel" parure but I have never before seen a "mask" ring with her signature. Yet here it is - the black onyx "mask" set in elaborate sterling worked such as to represent a headdress and breastplate. Deeply etched and oxidized lines add detail while also best...