Margot de Taxco
Some names in vintage silver are searched for the way signatures are searched for in painting, and Margot de Taxco is one of them. Margot de Taxco was the workshop name of Margot van Voorhies Carr, an American designer who settled in Taxco, Mexico — the silver-mining town that became the center of Mexico's modern silver jewelry — and built one of its most admired workshops in the mid twentieth century. Her pieces were sold in fine shops in Mexico and the United States, and they are collected today by the same standard they were made: design first, weight and finish always.
Her work is recognized by its drawing. Leaves and flowers grow in layered, naturalistic foliate forms, modeled in high relief and finished with fine beaded detail; animals, scrolls, and stylized figures fill her wider range. Many of her best-known pieces pair the silver with enamel — she is especially admired for it — but the foliate silver designs, like the bow necklace design number 5346, carry her line just as clearly. Every design was numbered, and the number is part of the piece: it is stamped on the back beside her signature, so a Margot can be identified and cataloged like a print from a plate.
The marks tell the story plainly. Turn a genuine Margot de Taxco piece over and you will find the script signature — MARGOT DE TAXCO — with the design number, the STERLING standard, and MADE IN MEXICO, sometimes with the Mexican eagle guarantee marks of the period. Those stamps, the design number, and the quality of the modeling together separate her workshop's jewelry from the great run of Taxco silver, much of it anonymous: pleasant enough, but not signed, not numbered, and not hers.
Royal Regency handles signed Mexican silver selectively, and Margot's work is the name we look for first. The foliate bow necklace in this collection is design number 5346, sixteen inches, mid-twentieth century — hand-wrought sterling with micro-beaded leaves on a curved bar-and-ball chain, its stamps exactly as they should read. When signed Taxco pieces of this standard come to us, this is the page they will join; pieces attributed to her workshop without the signature and number are not sold under her name.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Margot de Taxco? Margot de Taxco was the trade name of Margot van Voorhies Carr, an American designer who ran a celebrated silver workshop in Taxco, Mexico, in the mid twentieth century. Her signed, design-numbered pieces — foliate silver above all, and enamel work beside it — are among the most collected of all Mexican silver jewelry.
How can you tell a genuine Margot de Taxco piece? Turn it over. Her workshop stamped its pieces with the script signature MARGOT DE TAXCO, a design number, the STERLING standard, and MADE IN MEXICO. The design number matters: it identifies the pattern in her catalog. Unsigned Taxco silver, however pretty, is not Margot de Taxco.
What designs is Margot de Taxco known for? Layered foliate work — leaves, flowers, and bows modeled in high relief with beaded detail — is her signature, along with animal and figural designs and jewelry combining silver with enamel. Her bow necklace, design number 5346, is a characteristic piece: a foliate bow on a curved bar-and-ball chain.
What is the difference between Margot de Taxco and other Taxco silver? Taxco had hundreds of workshops, and most silver from the town is unsigned. Margot's pieces are signed and numbered designs from one identified workshop, modeled to a standard of finish that collectors pay for. The signature and design number are the difference, and they are on the back of every genuine piece.
How should vintage Mexican silver be cared for? Sterling silver asks little: wear it, wipe it with a soft cloth, and store it dry. A polishing cloth restores brightness without chemicals. Leave the dark shading in deep relief where the maker put it — on foliate work like Margot's, that contrast between bright leaf and shadowed ground is the design.
