Link Chain Necklace

A silver link chain stands as the quiet backbone of Spratling's jewelry, the form he returned to more than almost any other. Where many makers treated the chain as a way to suspend a pendant, Spratling designed the links themselves to carry the weight of the work.

The chain shown here is the unembellished expression of that instinct: silver links worked and joined into a continuous, flexible band. Spratling's silver was 980 rather than sterling, a purity he preferred, and each design left the Las Delicias workshop under his joined "WS" mark (Morrill, p. 39).

With no recorded reference or distinguishing motif, value rests on hallmark and period rather than on iconography. A clean mark and good condition are what carry a plain chain of this kind.