Rosewood Ring with Rectangular Silver Plaque

A rosewood ring topped with a rectangular silver plaque is notable less for its plain geometry than for its history: it is one of the very few Spratling designs introduced around 1944 and then reintroduced, with a different hallmark, in the mid-1950s. The reissue makes it a useful marker for dating his production.

Because Spratling's hallmarks shifted over time, a design revived years later carries the mark current at the moment of its later production, not its conception, which is exactly why such a reintroduced piece is instructive for collectors (the principle Stromberg sets out at p. 79). The rosewood-and-silver pairing reflects his lasting interest in combining native wood with metal (Morrill, p. 73).