This past year seems to have been a Carmen Beckmann year for One Good Eye Silver. And even though I cannot claim it was because of planning, it has not been entirely out of luck either. One of the few female contributors to Mexico’s 20th c Silver Renaissance that we know of, Beckmann’s jewelry are works of a confident designer, impeccably finished and at her best moments, incredibly creative as well...

This ring has a great design and measures just over 1/2" wide. It is a size 11. It is marked MEXICO TM-158 925. It has good heft and is in excellent condition.

Monumental sterling cuff bracelet with a beautiful design of twisted silver loops and arched terminals by Mexican designer Carmen Beckmann. She is one of the few well known women Mexican silversmiths of her time, active primarily in the 60's and 70's and having a shop in San Miguel de Allende. Measuring 6" around in the inside plus an additional 1 1/8" opening, this bracelet is 2 1/2' wide at all points and weighs a very solid 218 grams. Signed as shown and in fine original condition...

Impressively long and beguilingly slick with its glowing tapering dangles half-hiding a bullet-shaped piece of black onyx, this is one of Antonio Pineda’s most eye-catching set of earrings. Simple yet visually strong lines that re-affirm the philosophy of less-is-more in the world of adornment; smooth as silk, dancer-like motion; fleshy geometry (if you allow me the word combination), all come together and become a piece of wearable art in the hands of Mexico’s modernist magician...

A vintage modernist heavy sterling silver cuff bracelet by Antonio Pineda, Taxco embellished with four pearls. Thick sterling curved bars attached with spheres and four small saucers with a pearl in each one. Measures 5 1/2" around with an opening of 1 1/4" and 15/16" wide. Marked with the Antonio crown, Silver, 970, Sterling Mexico and an Early Eagle 17 mark. The saucers on the edges have some minor flattening. Sterling has some minor scratches and a little tarnish. Wonderful and rare.

This great necklace is circa 1970. It is composed of sterling silver and vibrant, turquoise mosaic inlay-style. It measures 17 3/4" long and consists of 17 links that measure 7/8" x 1/2". Each link is slightly convex. It is marked TAXCO MEXICO 925 in a circle, with LVR in the middle and marked TU-08 below. It has a V-Spring and Box Clasp. It has good heft, weighing 70 grams / 2.5 ounces and it is in very good condition.

Circa 1960's - 70's, this Carmen Beckmann cuff pulls out all the stops. It's an exceptional bracelet which I have not seen before, and believe to be very rare. Seven Mexican fire opals of varying sizes are at front and center. The stones are magnificent, and have flashes of green, orange, blue, and purple. Framed on each side with a raised abstract silver shapes with oxidized recesses. Measures 6" inside edge to edge, with an additional gap/opening of 1 3/16"...

Offered on consignment......... Circa mid-century, this bracelet is the work of Reveriano Castillo, who shop was called "Reveri". Reveriano began as an apprentice with William Spratling at Taller de Las Delicias in 1934, later working for Hector Aguilar at Taller Borda. He opened his own shop in 1952. This bracelet is composed of eight panels, each with a deeply incised modernist design, oxidized recessed, and silver ball in the center. Closure is a tight and secure tongue in box...

A classic combination for Enrique Ledesma, the marrying of sterling and stone, makes this vintage Mexican bracelet an easily recognizable creation by the renowned Taxco modernist. The stone is here azur-malachite, I believe, with greens and browns predominant and the warmth of the silver casings adds a certain "inner glow" to it...

Stunning in its towering smokey brilliance, this minimalist solitaire by Carmen Beckmann is a modernist Mexican beauty! Based in San Miguel de Allende Beckmann is reported to have started her activity a little later than the big Mexico City and Taxco workshops with most of her pieces dating in the 1950s and 1960s. In the ring at hand, the generously sized faceted gem is raised above a substantial geometric shank, held in place with sterling prongs in a crown-style setting...

Fortuno Mota, a talented Taxco maestro who in the 1950s and 1960s produced many of Antonio Pineda’s pieces, signs this stunning set of modernist dangle earrings. Crafted in Antonio’s signature fine .970 alloy, the pair reminds me of slender flutes as they elegantly hang off geometric stations with stone inlay. The inlay and the beads in which the dangles end seem to be made of azur-malachite with the second component responsible for the predominantly green and brown hues...

I am a big fan of Carmen Beckmann’s Etruscan style jewelry - her domed Etruscan ring is a foundational piece in my collection and I enjoy it thoroughly. There is something about the way the wire-work and tiny florets with their bead centers oxidize with time that creates an air of warm, comfortable luxury around them that gets me every time. I could easily see the dangle earrings at hand worn by dignified Roman matrons leisurely enjoying their honeyed wine...

This great, puffer fish / blow fish pendant can also be worn as a charm. It measures 1 1/8" from mouth to tail and is 3/4" "tall." It has blue rhinestone eyes and a wonderful, Mexican design. The tail is marked MEXICO 925, below initials that looks like CRL - ( all marks are slightly unstamped--see pictures). It is in excellent condition.

A rarely surfacing pair of stunning Miguel Martinez earrings, this set reinterprets neo-Aztec elements in a modernist, almost surrealist way. I consider Martinez's jewelry to be among the best examples of 20th c. Taxco design and silver-smithing, always a feast for the eyes and perfectly finished...

A rather rare design - I have never encountered it before - by Enrique Ledesma, this pair of earrings brings to mind classical representations of the Aztec Sun Disk yet, in fact, the figure centering them is Tlaltecuhtli, one of the Mexica Earth deities, often referred to as the Earth Monster...

Made up of heavily “pitted” and oxidized beads, tubular links and a central medallion with asymmetrical dangles this Erika Hult de Corral Mexican silver necklace is an ode to modernism peppered with a touch of brutalism. Ric (as de Corral signs her pieces) has created a few versions of this particular design that I like to refer to as “moonscapes” and they are all a pleasure to wear and to behold. One of the few talented female contributors to Mexico’s 20th c...

This mid-century bracelet from Los Ballesteros is a book-piece design, shown in "Warman's Jewelry" by Christie Romero. Certainly one of the most sought after designs from Los Ballesteros, this is a stand-out showpiece. It's large and heavy and supremely gorgeous, with colorful faceted stones in vivid hues alternating between incised stars. Closed, wearable length is 6 3/4", with a width of 1 11/16". Weight is a very substantial 140.9 grams, or over 4.5 troy ounces. Collector quality.

One of Taxco’s two “Miguels”, Miguel Melendez started his career with William Spratling at Las Delicias, moved on to work with the Los Castillo and later Margot de Taxco and in the early 1950s opened his own workshop. A talented modernist with deep roots in Mexico’s rich archaeological history, he loved combining silver with hard- and semi-precious stones and excelled in two-sided pendants that married stone or shell inlay with abstract overlay on highly oxidized surfaces...