All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1960 item #1426463 (stock #202006)
One of the finest cuffs out there. A Really magnificent Ortega still showing the inside gold wash which helps release the bracelet from the pressing. The feathered headdress and the intricate swirls of flowers on each side show a masterful designer. It wows with a 5.25 inches height. The diameter of the bracelet is 2.5 inches by 3 inches up the arm. It can be professionally sized to fit at no charge. Pressed perfectly with no light holes or damage...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1950 item #1426270 (stock #15067)
Swallows hold within their slender, elegant little bodies tender memories of my childhood in Greece - they are considered the most important harbingers of spring and symbolize regeneration, hope and the assurance that sun-filled days will always follow the darkest hours of winter. For the Victorians, they represented faithfulness and the promise of a loved-one's return and as a motif, they were widely used in sentimental jewelry...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1970 item #1425928 (stock #15021)
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...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1950 item #1425851 (stock #15093)
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...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1970 item #1425798 (stock #15082)
Based on an ancient glyph, or at least inspired by one, this vintage Los Castillo Mexican silver and azur-malachite inlay necklace is out of the workshop's "mozaico Azteca" line of jewelry. Centuries old, the technique became almost obsolete during the Colonial period but was revived by Chato Castillo, one of Taxco's most talented, innovative and original maestros...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1980 item #1425475 (stock #15097)
Perfect for medium to smaller wrists, this modernist Erika Hult de Corral bracelet was made in Taxco in the 1960s-70s. One of the few female contributors to Mexico's 20th c. Silver Renaissance that we know of, de Corral studied at the Parson's School of Design in Paris. An award-winning designer, she worked with Sigi Pineda and Enrique Ledesma before opening her own workshop...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1940 item #1425377 (stock #15016)
Dating around 1930, this Mexican Deco Fred Davis necklace in a design that rarely comes up, is an early example of "mixed metals" jewelry. Combining repousse silver with copper wire and then bringing in ripe, saturated color with the amethyst cabs, the necklace is an ode to vineyards and aromatic red wine. Though the brooch of the parure appears in the third edition of Morrill's "Mexican Silver" (p. 28), the necklace is hard to find and I am thrilled to be presenting it here...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1960 item #1425375 (stock #200106a)
Here is a rare Los Castillo necklace design # 482A. The weight is pure lux at 85grams. Length of this treasure is 16 in. and it lays like silk. The links are strung on silver cable links. Correctly signed and with no damage. Certainly collector quality and perfect for fun or board room savy, just LOOK AT THAT NECKLACE!
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1950 item #1425086
In 1940 Spratling was commissioned to design the first logo for Aeromexico Airlines then known as Aeronaves de Mexico S.A. The design included a stylized eagle with serpent in its' beak along with AMSA. Penny Morrill's beautiful new book DREAMING IN SILVER (p.111 & 123)discusses this period and features the deeply carved and detailed pin based on Spratling's AMSA design. Measuring 1 1/4" X 1 1/4" the pin is in beautiful condition. The unusual pin closure/safety on the back is tight and secure...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1960 item #1425026 (stock #202408c)
The emerald Salvador Teran is one of the most sleek and rich designs from his body of work. The stones are raw uncut emerald crystals. The necklace diameter is 5.3 inches and the face front is .75 of an inch. The neck band is jointed for a perfect fit and the drop displayed for a straight forward look at the emeralds. It masterfully displays 72 grams of silver and is 18 inches of wearable length. The bracelet is 7 inches long and is also segmented for a perfect fit...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1940 item #1424968 (stock #202405b)
We have offered today a very early Antonio Pineda repousse brooch signed with his earliest hallmark of AP. The Quetzalcoatl is beautifully done and with no damage. The dimensions are 3in. long and 2 3/8th's tall at highest points. This size is perfect for holding a shawl together on a chilly night. The weight is 26 grams of thick silver. A very special treasure.
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1950 item #1424967 (stock #202405)
This ribbed Hector Aguilar Bracelet is a rare find with 104 grams of heft and a striking height of 1 3/4 inches. Perfectly hallmarked with an applied plaque. This treasure is well rounded fitting perfectly on the wrist. The diameter is 2 3/8 in. The 6 stones are a hidden surprise presenting to the one who wears it. No dents and versatile to wear with anything anywhere.
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1950 item #1424740 (stock #15058)
One of the most interesting - and few - female figures of Mexico's 20th c. Silver Renaissance, Doris Smith Chamberlin was a Texas-born American who decided to move to Mexico in the 1940s to open her own workshop after having completed post-graduate studies in art and having taught woodworking, textile-making and silver-smithing for a few years in California (I am grateful to Decotini for the information). In Mexico City, where she settled, she created and sold her own designs but also commission...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1950 item #1424211 (stock #15040)
Dashing early modernist Mexican silver and amethyst earrings with the signature of the Los Ballesteros workshop, this set is a variation on the "clamshell" type of jewelry that was so popular with modernist Taxco maestros in the mid- to later 1940s. Having taken their name from the concave, clamshell-like silver platform within which semi-precious and polished hard-stones are housed, this sub-genre of Mexican beauties is characterized by absolute minimalism that is only tempered by the lusciousn...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1960 item #1424144
Spratling uses one single rod of thick sterling silver to form this elegant "safety pin". Worked by hand, the detailed swan's head is formed, continuing down to the double looped turn, ending with the sleek, tapered point. Measuring 3 3/4 inches long and 1/2" wide the piece is in beautiful condition. The ingenious design allows for excellent tension in opening and closing the pin point. The thickness of the rod is most suitable for looser weaved fabric. Using one single piece of metal is remini...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1950 item #1424093 (stock #15044)
Early and gorgeous Matilde Poulat sterling silver and coral bracelet in one of her iconic designs, the "paloma". This is classic Matl with the bird rendered in textured repoussage, its wings open, ready to fly away. The dove is surrounded by coral cabochons both bezel- and channel-set while small pieces of branch coral adorn the links of the chain. I find the relative "minimalism" (speaking for Matl, of course) in the use of one stone only quite refreshing and soothing to the eye as opposed to t...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1950 item #1424039 (stock #14718)
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...
All Items : Archives : Estate Jewelry : Silver : Mexican : Pre 1950 item #1424015 (stock #15046)
Good early Mexican Deco silver repousse jewelry is becoming harder to find - I don't know if it's because there weren't that many to begin with (quite often repoussage from that period seems a little clumsy, the technique needing additional experimenting with) or that at some point their popularity grew so much that they were "scooped up" from the market. Whatever the case, I am thrilled to be presenting this fantastic cuff bracelet with two saturated purple amethyst cabs here. I would call this...