The price of silver

When you buy silver jewelry, you probably never think about what goes into the price, and you probably have never thought about how silver is priced.

Basically, silver is traded as a commodity on the international markets. The metal is used extensively in industry, with only about a third of silver used in jewelry. Currently at approximately $10 an ounce, silver has increased in value very sharply over the past eighteen months, and recently reached a twenty year high of almost $15 an ounce.

Prior to the fall of 2004, silver hoovered at the $5-$6 an ounce range for two decades.

This rise in price effects the end price of the jewelry, and it effects the valule of the jewelry you previously purchased. While there is not a one-to-one increase, silver jewelry costs more when the silversmith has to pay more for the raw product.

Silver, as gold, has historically been used as a store of value. Think of all of those Spanish galleons sailing the Spanish main. You can track the price of silver online through various sites, including www.kitco.com.

The tiangus

Every Saturday the silversmiths in Taxco sell directly to the customer in a market called the tiangus. While not all of the silversmiths sell here, the work displays a wide variety of skill and quality. In addition to the sterling silver, plated goods are sold. One should exercise caution when buying, but a knowledgable buyer can do well, and sometimes find new and unique designs.

Some of the sellers in the tiangus also have retail shops, and the tiangus provides an additional outlet. Others sell to the larger shops or to wholesalers, so selling in the tiangus allows them to obtain a larger percentage of the sale price.

If you find yourself in Taxco on a Saturday morning, treat yourself to a walk though the tiangus, but remember "caveat emptor".

Taxco silver stamps

Here are examples of Taxco silver hallmarks and stamps from three well known tallers in Taxco today.

This belongs to Exequiel Tapia.










The second is from Hecho a mano.
Both of these are stamped 925, but omit the Mexico stamp.













The third is from Escorcia, and contains all the possible marks. The surface of the work is concave, and is difficult to photograph, but it reads "TP 120 MEX 0.095 Escorcia. This means it was made by a silversmith who last name starts with "P". He was the 120th smith with a sir name beginning with "P" registered in Taxco, hence the "T". The piece is from Mexico, MEX. It is made of fine silver, or 95%, and is from taller Escorcia.












Sometimes pieces simply are marked 925, without the Mexico stamped, although the legal requirement for importation is for its inclusion.

Hallmarks and stamps

All jewelry imported into the United States must be marked for content and county of origin. The stamp on the reverse of Mexican silver carries a mark of .925 for sterling silver or .950 for fine silver. Sometimes the work bears a sterling stamp, rather than .925 stamp. Jewelry with higher silver content is usually not stamped as such, and may carry either a .925 or .950 mark. The stamp MEX or MEXICO normally marks the country of origin, although occasionally TAXCO replaces the Mexico stamp.

The markers mark maybe a name or a registration mark, or both. The registration mark includes a T for Taxco, a letter indicating the first letter of the markers name and a number wich indicates the person is the x number registered under that initial. For example TR-120 would indicate the 120th person whose last name begins in R who is registered in Taxco.

Older pieces of Mexican silver may have different hallmarks or names. The book Mexican Silver has an excellent list of these older marks.

Mexican Silver

To learn about Mexican silver, the book of the same title, by Penny Chittim Morrill & Carole A. Berk, is the best source of information I have found. You can obtain it directly from the publisher, Schiffer Publishing Ltd.

This is the publishers description:

"Here is the powerful story of the silver renaissance in Mexico from the 1920s to the present. The wealth of color photos showcases the incomparable beauty of these works in silver. Extensive research sheds new light on the life and art of William Spratling, Margot van Voorhies, Fred Davis, and Hubert Harmon, and on the artisans who worked for them, making this book the definitive study of Mexican silver jewelry and decorative objects."

To understand why this silver is special, and to know what to look for when you buy, this book is invaluable.

Caring for your silver

You don't have to do this to keep your silver polished!

Silver will provide generations of enjoyment. Sterling silver is durable and over the years develops a patina that can add to its value. Cleaning and an occasional polish will keep your silver in top condition for years to come.

The easiest way to keep you silver in good condition is to wash it frequently, with a phosphate-free detergent and to dry it with a soft cotton cloth. This prevents tarnish from building up on the silver, and lessens the need for polish. Tarnish is more easily removed in its early stages, when the silver appears to be a little "yellow", than after the tarnish turns brown or black.

Sulphur-containing materials, particularly hydrogen sulfide (H2S) cause silver to tarnish. Common substances which cause tarnish are skin oils, wool, felt, eggs and mayonnaise, onions, rubber and latex, and fossil fuels. Humid air, particularly salty sea air, accelerates tarnishing. A number of good silver polishes are available in grocery, department or hardware stores, or can be ordered online.

3M's Tarni-Shield™ Silver Polish is one of the least abrasive polishes and has an effective tarnish barrier. Twinkle® Silver Polish is also one of the least abrasive polishes. Goddard’s™ Long Shine Silver Polish and Silver Wash, and Wright's® Anti-Tarnish Silver Polish and Silver Cream will remove heavier tarnish and residue best.

DON’Ts:

Don’t use toothpaste. It is an abrasive and can scratch your silver.

Don’t use the same things to clean your silver scrub as you use to clean your pots! These include Scotch-Brite and steel wool, which can badly scratch your silver.

Don't use chemical dips as they can be toxic, and although they remove the tarnish quickly, they alter the surface of the silver and can result in more rapid tarnishing. This includes the home polishing trick of aluminum foil and baking soda.

Silver can be stored in sealable plastic bags with silica gel or with 3M Anti-Tarnish Strips™ provided it is first wrapped in soft cotton cloth or archival tissue paper. Simply using soft cotton cloths and sealable plastic bags will reduce the tarnish, as it minimizes exposure to air and tarnishing gases.

Work of a Taxco silversmith

Creating a piece of silver jewelry can involve a number of techniques. The master silversmiths of Taxco produce some of the world's best work. An example is the set below, which appears to be very simple, requires a high level of skill to produce.


First the silver is rolled through a hand press into sheets of the desired thickness. In this instance, about a sixteenth of an inch or approximately 4mm. Each disk is then cut by hand from the sheet using a jeweler's hand saw. (We'll show you those in another segment.)

If you look closely you will see a tongue on one side of each circle, and on the other a cutout to receive the tongue. Cutting the circles with this level of precision requires a steady hand and much experience.

After cutting the pieces the silversmith drills a small hole in the tongue and in the corresponding section of the "receiving" circle. The holes are lined up and secured with a silver pin which is soldered into place.

While the circles in the bracelet form a straight line when laid out, the circles themselves must curve to fit the wrist. So before the smith can join the pieces, each circle must be shaped into the appropriate curve.

The circles for the necklace cannot be identical, and must be cut so the different segments form a circle that sits comfortably on the wearer's neck. The tongue and groove must be placed differently on each segment to achieve this, but these circles themselves do not need to curve as with the bracelet design.

The silversmith must also create a clasp, modifying the end circles to receive it.

Once assembled, the smith smooths off any rough edges left by the saw cuts or soldering, and polishes the piece on a polishing wheel.

If you try to lay out these pieces using a paper model you will start to appreciate the skills required to do this in silver!

"Real" silver

People often ask "Is this real silver?", or "Is this 100 percent silver?" when contemplating the purchase of a piece of silver. Generally, they mean "Is it plated?" However, even when not plated, silver is rarely used in it's pure form as it is very soft.

Most of the silver we see on the market is sterling silver. The silver is mixed to copper to harden it and reduce the amount of metal necessary to make a durable piece of jewelry or tableware. 92.5 percent silver mixed with 7.5 percent copper makes sterling silver, or .925, as it is known in Mexico.

Some of the finer pieces can contain up to 99 percent silver, although these are rarely marked as such. More commonly pieces are made of fine silver, that is 95 percent silver and 5 percent copper. The .950 stamp differentiates fine silver from sterling.

Pieces with higher silver content must be heavier and thicker to compensate for the softness of the metal. However, pieces with higher silver content tarnish less easily, as copper causes much of the tarnishing of sterling silver.

Intro to Taxco

The Taxco silver blog will provide a forum to provide silver lovers information on all things Taxco, from methods of silver production to the latest finds. It will highlight things that may not make their way onto the website.