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A five-pointed star, its spears interspersed with bands of azur-malachite flanked by silver, makes up this pendant that doubles as a pin: the radiating form combines worked metal with the banded blue-green stone, and three silver beads terminate each malachite strip. The star is built outward from the center in alternating metal and stone, a piece of radial geometry.
The pendant belongs to the First Design Period, 1931 to 1946. The inlay of azur-malachite into silver, and the beaded terminals, draw on the workshop's vocabulary of stone-and-metal combination that marks the Taxco school's experimental approach to materials (Stromberg, p. 41).
The piece is recorded in Phyllis M. Goddard's Spratling Silver: A Field Guide. Azur-malachite star pendants are among the more sculptural of the stone-set designs and are sought by collectors.
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