Amethyst Tube Bracelet

A bracelet of three rows of flattened tubes, set with cylindrical tapered amethysts in round silver frames, is one of the more architecturally ambitious bracelets in the Spratling line, and it exists in a documented family of variants. The same design was also made with obsidian in place of the amethyst, and in all silver with no stones at all. The bracelet is recorded in Penny Morrill's William Spratling and the Mexican Silver Renaissance: Maestros de Plata and in Phyllis Goddard's field guide.

The design dates from the third design period, 1951 to 1967. The flattened tubes give the band its structure while the framed amethysts punctuate it with color, the violet stones tapering within their silver settings.

All three versions have been reissued, so a collector weighs period of manufacture along with the choice of amethyst, obsidian, or plain silver. The appearance in two major references makes this one of the better-documented bracelets of the later period.