Reference Guide
Maker Marks
On Taxco-school work, the maker’s mark is what turns an object into an authored piece. These are the signatures you’ll encounter most often. Compare any mark against a documented reference before attributing a piece.
“WS” conjoined monogram; “Spratling Silver”; “Spratling Made in Mexico.”
The founder. Early pieces (pre-1948) predate the eagle and carry script marks instead.
“HA” conjoined monogram; “Aguilar.”
Ran Taller Borda after leaving Spratling’s Las Delicias.
A crowned “Antonio,” frequently paired with an eagle assay stamp.
Known for modernist forms and fine stones.
In Short
A Mexican silver hallmark is a stamped mark (or, more often, a small group of marks) that records a piece’s silver purity, its origin, an official assay guarantee, and the maker who produced it. Read together, these marks confirm whether a piece is genuine sterling silver, roughly when it was made, and which workshop or artist it came from.
Anatomy of a Mark
Is It Real?
The first thing to find is a fineness mark. Genuine Mexican silver is almost always sterling, 92.5% pure, and says so. Here are the marks you’ll see most often and what each one means.
925 / .925 / Ley 0.925
Sterling standard, 92.5% silver. “Ley” means “standard.”
Sterling
English-language sterling declaration, common on export pieces.
Silver / Plata
A silver declaration without a stated fineness, read alongside other marks.
Hecho en Mexico
“Made in Mexico.” An origin mark, not a purity guarantee on its own.
A caution: the absence of a fineness mark does not always mean a piece is plated or fake. Some early Taxco work predates standardized marking. When the marks are ambiguous, weigh them against the maker’s mark and the assay stamp before drawing a conclusion.
Dating a Piece
The single most useful clue for age is the assay mark. From roughly 1948 to the late 1970s, Mexican silver was stamped with an eagle, the national assay mark guaranteeing silver content, often enclosing a number used as a registration code. Because the eagle was only in use during that window, its presence places a piece within it.
When the eagle was retired, Mexico introduced a registry system of letters and numbers unique to each maker. The leading letters identify the maker’s town, Taxco codes commonly begin with “T”, followed by initials and a registration number. A piece carrying one of these codes was made after the eagle era; a piece carrying neither an eagle nor a registry code may well predate 1948.
Common Questions
