Description
Vintage Taxco Mexican Sterling Silver Modernist Kitten Cat Pin –
This is a vintage 1970s to early 1980s Taxco, Mexican Sterling Silver kitten or cat pin with black enameling and strong, stylized, modernist design. It is marked Mexico, 925 TM-266 whereby the 925 indicates sterling silver quality and the T indicates Taxco origin and 266 represents the particular silversmith designer for this pin. Size is 1 1/2″ tall North to South by 1 1/16″ wide across the center. As you would expect from Mexican silver makers, it is very strong, solid, and well made of thick “can’t bend it” sterling silver. Weight is heavy at 10.7 grams. Condition is excellent. No dents or dings. No tears or deep scratches. Any age wear is surface scratches only that do not detract and are not eye obvious when the pin is worn on clothing. Can be jeweler polished out but not necessary as it looks okay the way it is. No repair and never altered in any way. Completely original. Good secure locking clasp. This is a lovely stylized cat for your cat vintage jewelry collection.
About Vintage Mexican Silver Jewelry:
Reference: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/fine-jewelry/mexican
Silversmithing has been practiced for centuries in Mexico. In fact, Mexican silversmiths taught the Navajo of the Southwestern United States their trade. But it took an American named William Spratling to see the opportunity to build on this legacy. He did this in 1931, when he established a retail outlet for Mexican jewelry near the silver-mining center of Taxco.
Spratling’s designs borrowed liberally from pre-Columbian motifs found on Mexico’s pyramids and lifted from the 14th-century symbols that fill the Codex Zouche-Nuttal. It was open-source material, if you will. So it shouldn’t be too surprising that as his shop succeeded and imitators sprang up nearby, the designs themselves were appropriated.
Some competitors were actively encouraged. In fact, the Taxco School, as it is known today, was formed largely from former Spratling employees. Examples are the Castillo brothers, Héctor Aguilar, and Antonio Pineda. In addition, Valentin Viadurreta brought a Mexican eye to Art Deco. Naturally, these artisans and their shops became incubators for still more generations of silversmiths.
For those who could not make the trip to Taxco, U.S. stores took the step of importing these popular goods. At one point everyone from fashionable Gump’s in San Francisco to Montgomery Ward in Chicago carried silver jewelry and tableware by Taxco designers.
