Stepped Cuff

The steady alternation of rosewood and sterling silver across a wide cuff is one of the more resolved material experiments to emerge from the Taxco workshops of the early 1940s. A large central silver plaque anchors the composition; flanking it, pairs of curved rosewood segments and silver segments alternate in a rhythm that foregrounds the contrast of warm grain against cool metal, with dome-headed silver rivets fastening each wooden element to the structure. Morrill notes that these silver dots on wood were a motif William Spratling used extensively in this period, observing that such circles and dots "give the pieces a sense of playfulness and sophistication."

The design appears only in Spratling's own catalogs for 1943, 1944, and 1945 — a narrow window within the First Design Period. During that same span, as Morrill records, Spratling silver was featured in Montgomery Ward catalogues, and this cuff was among the designs available through that channel at $17.95. Its presence in national mail-order distribution alongside the workshop's bespoke production speaks to the scale the Taxco operation had reached by the mid-decade.

Because the design has been reissued, early examples are distinguished by period hallmarks — stamps reading "Spratling Made in Mexico" and "Spratling Silver" or "Sterling" — along with the weight and proportions of First Design Period construction, typically running above eighty grams. Condition of the rosewood elements, which can chip at the terminals, is a primary consideration.