Much of the jewellery that one sees for sale in Mexico is made in Taxco, Guerrero.  It is a famous silver town and has been for many years.  Unhappily though, very little of the current work made there is traditional in any sense, much of it designed for tourist shops.  Aside from not having a good sense of traditions, tourists often bargain prices down much too low so that quality has to be abandoned to meet the ability to still sell and survive.
For those reasons I do not buy in Taxco but search in small communities for well made traditional jewellery typical of those regions.  I was overjoyed to find this work made in the State of Mexico, in the area of Toluca, outside of Mexico City.
This work is much like that of the eighteenth century, just as wearable now as it was then...  I have seen similar pieces in museums such as the museum of anthropology (el Museo Nacional de Antropología) in Chapultepec Park, Mexico D.F., and the museum of popular culture from the area (Museo de la Cultura Potosina) in San Luis Potosí.
This is all made with excellent skills and will last you a lifetime.  None of these items are cast or made factory style.  Each pendant and piece is cut by hand, filed, sanded, and polished.  The lines are stamped into the pieces and they are hammered to give them shape.  The soldering is painstaking as it is done in steps.  The jeweller begins with the solder that melts at the highest temperature.  The next pieces to be fixed together will use a solder at a lower temperature.  The jeweller has to take great care to keep his flame at a low enough temperature that he doesn't melt what has already been worked on.  Step by step, it is all time consuming and finished just perfectly in this work.
Most of the jewellery that we buy in our shops at home is assembly work - item after item, each exactly the same as the one before - factory made - to keep prices low.  This is art from a jeweller's table, more appropriate to the shop of a fine crafts jeweller.
The earrings have wires slipping into the ears with hooks at the back to lock the wires into place so that you cannot accidentally lose them...  and all of the work is sterling grade.
  MEX-01.   The earrings shown here are all magical in their design and skilled in their workmanship.  Earrings #1 are 2 5/8 inches tall and the silver gleams clean and strong.   $145.US.    Earrings #2 are 3 inches long and made with three hinged sections as well as dangles hanging from the bottom.   $160.US.   (#2 is sold)
   MEX-02.   Earrings #4 are the most complex and the longest of the earrings which I brought back.  They are made with real coins and four hinged sections swinging together, along with little half domed dangles.  There are three pairs of birds on each earring, beak to beak in their happiness.  I do love these.  The earrings are 4 5/8 inches long.  Just amazing.  $250.US.   Earrings #5 have the same look to them, with simply one pair of birds.  They measure 3 1/2 inches long.   $155.US.   (#5 is sold)
   MEX-03.   All of the earrings shown here look a great deal better in real life than in the photos.  I haven't managed to discover a way to capture their allure in the images.   Earrings #6 are 2 3/8 inches long, have stamped dangles, and pale yellow facet glass stones acting as flowers with two tiny leaves next to each.  The dangles flick nicely when ones head is moved.   $105.US.   Earrings #7 are long (over 3 inches) and elegant.  The tiny wires in the design have each been placed in their positions by hand and soldered carefully.  This is much more work than you might realize.   $115.US.   (#6 is sold)
   MEX-04.   Earrings #8 and #9 are very similar - flowers with more flowers and leaves hanging from them.  They are 1 15/16 inches tall and their real different is that #8 have a center of silver on the bottom blossom and #9 have a pale yellow facet glass stone.  I love the way that jewellers construct these pieces adding layer on layer of hand cut, hammered silver shapes.  They are $78.US/each.  (#8 & #9 are sold)
   MEX-05.   Earrings #10 through #13 are all small and delicate, with the first three featuring pairs of birds facing each other.  The birds are just over 5/8 inch across.  Earrings #1 have the simplicity of just the birds.   $28.US.   Earrings #11 have small dangles hanging from the birds.   $32.US.   Earrings #12 have swinging silver pendants hanging from them to make them almost 1 1/2 inches long.  $40.US.   Earrings #13 are made of delicately turned and twisted wires holding a blue facet glass stone.  $28.US.  (#11 & #12 are sold)
   MEX-06.   These 5 pairs of earrings slip into the earrings and have hook closures to keep them locked closed.  There is a nice variety here.   Earrings #14 are the simplest.  A flat sheet of cut out silver holding a flower and curled vines.  They are just under 1 3/8 inches tall.   $85.US.   Earrings #15 are highly decorated - remember that nothing is cast in these and that all are constructed with bits and pieces by hand.  A lot of careful soldering has to be done as one has to be careful not to melt something that has already been attached.  The earrings are 1 1/2 inches tall.  An inner part swings back and forth.   $125.US.   Earrings #16 are 1 1/2 inches tall and made of silver lace, light and delicate.  $125.US.   Earrings # 17 have tiny birds sitting in their nests face to face.  Between them is a green facet glass stone held in by silver, and underneath them leaves are drawn into the silver.   $100.US.   Earrings #18 are 1 1/4 inches tall.  They too have pairs of birds face to face with a small ball of silver inbetween.  $68.US.  (#15 & #17 are sold)
   MEX-07.   Here are some wide and graceful earrings, sure to be eye-catchers just as the ones which Frida Kahlo and others wore.  They realized the beauty and wonder of their own cultures and loved to demonstrate it.   Earrings #19 are more floral lace than they are anything else.  Each one has a bird darting for flowers.  The earrings are 2 1/4 inches tall.   $125.US.   Earrings #20 are more solid and heavier, with two moveable slices in each one.  The birds are very three dimensional as they are portrayed in the back as well as in the front.  In the front they have a green facet glass cabachon between them as well as rich red cabochons on each side.  $170.US.   The most intricate of the three is this last pair #21.  They measure 2 1/2 inches in height and were very labour intensive to create.  The birds kiss as an explosion of silver radiates beneath.  I have worked in silver but have never had the patience or the skill to create anything this complex.  $245.US.
   MEX-08.   There are three items here, the first being a rather complex chain of silver beads with wired dividers.  Chain #1 is 25 inches long.   $265.US.   Bracelet #2 is 7 3/4 inches long and made in the same way.  $85.US.   Chain #3 is made of wire rings folded into each other.  It is a traditional way used all over the world.  The chain is a little over 20 inches long.  $155.US.
   MEX-09.   Oh what wonderful necklaces are made in Mexico.  This is a charmer as are the others.  Here are the traditional birds, taking flight and creating life.  The pendant is 3 1/4 inches tall and 2 1/8 inches wide.  It moves nicely as one walks.  The chain is 22 inches long and made carefully with delicate soldered rectangles.  Everything made of course, piece by piece, by hand.  This is  $275.US.
   MEX-10.   Here is a wonder from the sea.  The two mermaids are in love I think - one is male and one is female and they are gazing into each others eyes.  Their tails are intertwined and little half dome dangles hang below moving below them like the water.  The pendant is 2 1/2 inches long, and the chain is 24 inches long.   $255.US. (sold)
   MEX-11.   This is the most complex of the necklaces that I have bought.  I kept looking at it, and in the end, found it irresistable.  The chain is detailed with each section made by hand and it attaches to a series of flowers, four of them emphasized with pinkish red glass facet stones.  Everything is hinged so that it moves as things in nature do.  There are four little butterflies around the flowers and a large lacy one hanging below.  It is quite wonderful with hanging leaves attached as well.  The entire piece circles 23 inches across on the inside.  This is expensive, but I think you may never see another...   $920.US.
   MEX-12.  I tried this pin out on a black tank top that I have with a fine set of pleats at the front.  I pinned it right there, and it looked just amazing.  The pin is 2 1/4 inches across, and of course a complex group of pieces all soldered together to make one intricate oval.   $135.US.
   MEX-13.   There are always wonderful pieces from these jewellers bringing along the poetic aspects in the Latin world.   Pendant #1 is 2 1/8 inches tall, graceful and lovely with two birds settled on a flower studded heart, with a swinging pendant hanging beneath.   $75.US.   Pendant #2 is a small pair of birds nestled together.  The pin measures 1 1/4 inches across and costs  $45.US.   Pendant #3 hangs nicely in real life.  I didn't realize that it got moved a little when I took the photograph.  The piece is 1 3/4 inches tall, has a pair of birds and a flower studded heart.   $75.US.   Pendant #4 is a large pair of birds sitting on a flowered branch.  They are charming as usual.   $110.US.
   MEX-14.   $110.US.
   MEX-15.   $155.US.
   MEX-16.   $155.US.
   MEX-17.   $155.US.
   MEX-18.   Earrings #1 - $100.US   Earrings #2 - $90.US (set with red glass stones)
   MEX-19.   $95.US.
   MEX-20.   $135.US.
   MEX-21.    Earrings #1 - $80.US.   Earrings #2 - $50.US.
 

return to Mexico Introduction page

return to "Contents" page
    .....Ancient beads
    .....Eastern beads and ornaments
    .....Southeast Asia
    .....India
    .....Africa
   .....African trade beads
    .....North Africa
    .....the Americas including preColumbian
    .....Europe
    .....Modern copies of ancient objects
    .....Odds and ends