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This Silson pin renders the cross-section of a conch shell, a spiral motif very close to the one Spratling produced in silver. The Silson mark places it: the New York firm produced Spratling designs in plate for the American market from 1941, after the patents were registered in the United States in 1940-41 (Morrill, p. 257). The conch spiral was one of Spratling's recurring forms, drawn from the sea.
Executed in plate rather than handwrought silver, the pin brought a characteristic Spratling motif to buyers who could not reach Taxco.
The Silson pieces are a distinct, well-dated chapter of the Spratling story, and a conch motif that exists in both silver and licensed plate is a clear instance of a design crossing between the two production lines.
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