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An eagle-head brooch captures Héctor Aguilar's talent for compressing a charged subject into a single bold silver profile. Aguilar worked from the Taller Borda, the Taxco workshop he founded in 1939 after managing William Spratling's shop, and figural jewelry of this kind was central to its output.
Built in 940 silver with 990 silver, the eagle's head is realized as a compact, sculptural form, its character carried by silhouette rather than surface detail. The hallmark places the brooch within an established phase of Taller Borda production.
It is recorded in Penny C. Morrill's Silver Masters of Mexico: Héctor Aguilar and the Taller Borda, the standard reference on the workshop, where it appears as plate I-92c. Figural pins by Aguilar surface only occasionally at auction and draw collectors of his animal subjects.
Feathered Brooch (Prendedor con plumas), circa 1950
Accession M.2016.253.1. Official museum record Photo: Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Verified against each institution's own collection records. All museum collections
Museum of Mexican Silver. “Eagle Head Brooch.” Catalog no. MoMS-001673. https://museumofmexicansilver.com/pieces/aguilar-eagle-head-pin-1940
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Héctor Aguilar
Warrior Monkey Brooch
c. 1940
940 silver
