Mexican silver retailer brooch with London Import marks

retailer The shape of this brooch is best described as a mirror image 6 or 9 and I think it would be worn longitudinally and would look great on a coat lapel. It is big enough (8cm x 3cm) to make a statement, especially on a plain dark material. It is modernist and abstraction and its simplicity disguises the pleasing sinuosity of the design in 3 dimensions. It is tactile and very pleasing to the eye.


With the reference marks 925 TB 112 all we know is that the maker was based in Taxco and family name began with B. What makes this brooch slightly unusual is that the importer bothered to have it assayed in London and it has full import marks for 1990 - which would have added time and cost to the import process and suggests that at the time the maker or retailer was at the upper end of the trade. Few dealers would have gone to the trouble. This makes it attractive to silver collectors as well as wearers of brooches.