Petate Bracelet by Silson

This petate bracelet carries the Silson mark, the New York manufacturer that produced Spratling designs in plate for the American market. Its history is precisely dated: the Spratling design was patented December 31, 1940, for a term of three and a half years, exactly the window when Silson patents were registered in the United States and Silson, Inc. began producing Spratling designs from 1941 (Morrill, p. 257). The bracelet closely follows the version Spratling executed in silver.

The petate pattern takes its name from the woven palm mat of Mexican daily life, a vernacular texture translated into metal. In plate, it brought that Mexican reference to buyers who could not reach Taxco.

The Silson pieces, with their U.S. patents and New York production, are a well-documented chapter of the Spratling story, and a dated patent makes this bracelet unusually easy to place.