ORIGINAL PUBLICATION DATE: FRIDAY MAY 29, 2009

Fooled By Fakes: Buyer Beware!

Vintage Mexican Silver Jewelry

by Anita Stratos

Mexican silver jewelry was in its heyday during the 1930’s-1950’s, but there’s a major resurgence in the popularity of these vintage pieces today. High prices - into the hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars - can be had for original pieces from renowned designers like William Spratling, Hector Aguilar, Frederick Davis, Carlos Castillo, and Margot of Taxco. This gives unscrupulous sellers lots of incentive to turn out fakes and forgeries.

Madeline DeLia knows a lot about the issue of counterfeit jewelry. She, along with three colleagues, invested a great amount of time and effort to shed media light on the now well-known Weiss counterfeit jewelry scandal that appeared on the front page of the New York Times in 2006 (more information is on her Web site, www.jasnejewels.com/weiss-counterfeit.html). A second generation antiques dealer and member of the Pennsylvania Antique Dealers Association now working on her graduate gemology degree from the Gemological Institute of America, DeLia has published numerous articles on the topic of vintage costume jewelry, including several that give buyers insights into how to buy vintage Mexican jewelry (these can also be found on her Web site).

So let’s say you’re a savvy buyer and you’re looking for a nice piece of vintage Mexican silver jewelry. As a smart shopper, you’re armed with your trusty reference guide that shows what the various authentic Mexican hallmarks look like. How can you possibly be suckered in by a forgery? Unfortunately, finding an authentic Mexican artist’s hallmark on a piece of jewelry doesn’t guarantee that the piece is legitimate. DeLia has found increasing instances of unscrupulous sellers fabricating signed vintage Mexican silver jewelry from broken pieces of silver jewelry, to which they add authentic hallmarks from artists’ pieces that are beyond repair. This jewelry is then fraudulently sold as an authentic piece of vintage Mexican designer jewelry. If the person creating this fabrication has good jewelry-making skills and is using laser technology to perpetrate this fraud, DeLia said it’s very difficult for the naked or untrained eye to recognize. However, professional jewelry restorers are able to detect the difference. This is just one example, there are other techniques used by fakers as well.

“The forgers like to take some of the wonderful early eagle marked pieces and add distinct artist marks like Villasana and Los Ballesteros to increase the value of the item,” DeLia said.

A plate attached to a piece of jewelry with sloppy welding around the tab is another red flag - an example of this type of faked jewelry with a fake Hector Aguilar “HA” mark poorly welded is pictured with this column. DeLia said that most hallmarks are impressed into the jewelry itself, not attached in this way.

In addition, there are artists who use the same techniques as the well-known designers and create pieces in a similar style. (DeLia notes, however, that she has seen no modern artists using Mexican techniques like metales casado or azteca mosaica to create similar style pieces.) Unlike forgers, these artists are creating legitimate new pieces with no intention of defrauding buyers. DeLia said that some forgers will acquire such unsigned Mexican silver pieces and then add fraudulent marks to them. These “fresh/fake” fraudulent marks look sharper than a fifty year old mark should - this sharpness can be seen using a 10x jeweler’s loupe.

But there’s yet another category to watch out for - reproductions. Some people who create these pieces using the designers’ original molds are honest enough to advertise their jewelry as such, but others aren’t so forthright.

“Of the original silver makers, very few are alive or have workshops carrying on their tradition,” DeLia said. “One of the workshops still in existence is Los Castillos. Since Margot and Aguilar were in dire financial stress towards the end of their careers, their molds were sold, stolen, or borrowed by other artisans who continued to design their work.”

There are general guidelines to help you date vintage Mexican silver jewelry, which can help you know if a seller is misrepresenting a newer piece as vintage. An eagle mark was stamped into jewelry made between 1948 and 1980, so jewelry without the eagle mark may have been made prior to 1948. However, if a piece of jewelry was too delicate or designed in such a way that the eagle mark couldn’t be applied, a separate metal tag or paper label with the eagle mark was attached to the piece instead. These tags and labels were generally removed when the buyer wore the piece, so it’s not too common to find them still attached. Once removed, the piece no longer had any evidence of the eagle mark, and it could easily be mistaken for one made pre-1948. To confirm the actual date of these pieces, you need to refer to an identification book on Mexican silver jewelry (DeLia recommends the fourth edition of Mexican Silver by Berk and Morill as a reference for Taxco marks.) From 1980 through the present, registration numbers are also included on each piece of jewelry.

Phyllis Goddard, co-author of the book Spratling Silver: A Field Guide, has an outstanding Web site (www.spratlingsilver.com) where you can see photos of actual Spratling hallmarks arranged chronologically, read about the history of Spratling silver, and pick up a wealth of tips about collecting Spratling’s works and recognizing fake pieces. She states that “Spratling’s designs and hallmarks have been copied for more than 50 years,” underscoring the importance of thorough research, a strong knowledge base, and good reference sources. Her Web site coupled with her book will equip you with enough information to safely start your collection of this inspired jewelry.

All photos are courtesy Madeline DeLia, www.jasnejewels.com.

At A Glance:

Signs of a Fake:

1.† Hallmarks that are too sharp or appear as welded attachments on bracelets.

2.† Sellers with multiples of the same piece.

3.† Frederick Davis mark with FD disconnected or crudely carved.

4.† Hector Aguilar initials “HA” are too crude or not properly conjoined.

5.† “Taxco” and “940” on Hector Aguilar pieces too machine-like perfect.

6.† “Vintage” jewelry with no signs of age or wear.

7.† Spratling marks made with machine-like precision; each authentic Spratling mark was done by hand.

8.† Sellers with an unusual amount of amethyst Mexican silver jewelry. Vintage Mexican silver bracelets and necklaces with amethyst were not plentiful. Sellers are removing original onyx and obsidian cabochons and replacing them with amethyst to increase their selling price.

Reference books and collecting groups are the best ways to keep from being fooled by fakes. Here are a few: The Little Book of Mexican Silver Trade and Hallmarks (2006) by Bille Hougart; Spratling Silver: A Field Guide - Recognizing a William Spratling Treasure by Goddard & Paine (2003); Mexican Silver (4th edition) by Penny Morrill and Carole Berk; Spratling Silver Reference (www.spratlingsilver.com).

What topics would you like to see covered here? We’d love to answer your questions and hear about any experiences you’ve had with fakes, forgeries, and repros. Please send all correspondence to FooledByFakes@gmail.com.