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MEXICAN SILVER HALLMARKS Dating your Mexican Silver jewelry or what do the marks on the back of my piece mean? MEXICO SILVER or STERLING MEXICO: Prior to 1948, pieces were simply stamped with Mexico Silver or Sterling Mexico  EAGLE MARKS: Circa 1945-1948, the Mexican government began the use of the Eagle stamp. a specific number associated with a silver manufacturing company or designer was stamped within an Eagle stamp. 1900 - 1948: No Eagle mark 1948 - 1980: Eagle mark 1980 - present: letter/number system It should be noted that due to design constraints, the Eagle mark sometimes could not be stamped directly on a piece. It was then stamped on a separate metal tag and attached to the piece by wire which was, of course, removed by the buyer.  GENERIC MARKS: The location of manufacture, the silver content and frequently the initials of the maker can often be found stamped on the back of silver jewelry. T: Taxco M: Mexico City DF: Federal District of Mexico City GRO.: State of Guerrero, Mexico GUAD: Guadalajara IGUA: Iguala SA: Initials for "incorporated" Hecho en Mexico: Made in Mexico  LETTER/NUMBER MARKS: Since 1980 Mexican silver has been marked using a registration system which combines letters and numbers. The first letter represents location. The second letter is the first letter of the maker's first or last name. The number represents the order in which the maker registered his mark. EXAMPLE: TS-16 T represents Taxco, Mexico. S is the first letter of the maker's first or last name. 16 shows that this maker was the 16th individual to register under the letter combination of TS.  Yes, it is confusing. Quite often we never know who the silversmith was. We just have initials. For extra help in trying to identify the maker of your Mexican silver jewelry, I recommend "The Little Book of Mexican Silver Trade and Hallmarks" by Billie Hougart. Invaluable!!! |
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