Cholulteca Conch Shell Earrings

The cross-section of a conch shell, rendered in silver, forms these earrings: the spiraling interior chamber of the shell is the design, a natural marine form translated into metal at ear scale. The conch was one of Spratling's recurring sea subjects, here pared to a single clean spiral.

The design has a documented production window. Per the existing record it appears only in a late-1945 catalog, though it may have been made earlier, and pins were produced in the same design; the earrings have since been reissued. The form belongs to the First Design Period, 1931 to 1946.

Conch-section jewelry is among the more graphic of the workshop's marine motifs, and early examples are collected as such.