Fred Davis
Fred Davis was one of the earliest and most consequential figures in the Mexican silver renaissance. An American who moved to Mexico in 1910, he promoted Mexican folk art and silver design through the Sonora News Company and later Sanborn's in Mexico City, working with Mexican silversmiths before Taxco's Silver Age fully formed. His designs drew on Pre-Columbian, folk, and regional sources, and he helped create the market in which Taxco silver could be understood as modern Mexican design.
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Fred Davis was one of the earliest and most consequential figures in the Mexican silver renaissance, even though he is often treated as peripheral to the Taxco story. An American who moved to Mexico in 1910, Davis became a major promoter of Mexican folk art, contemporary art, and silver design through the Sonora News Company and later Sanborn’s in Mexico City.
Davis’s importance is foundational. He worked with Mexican silversmiths before Taxco’s Silver Age fully formed, encouraged high-quality production, sold early work by Spratling, and helped create the market for silver that was unmistakably Mexican rather than derivative European jewelry. His designs drew on Pre-Columbian, folk, and regional sources, but with refinement and commercial intelligence.
He was not a Taxco workshop master in the Spratling sense. He was something earlier and broader: a taste-maker, dealer, designer, and cultural intermediary. Davis helped create the conditions in which Taxco silver could be understood as modern Mexican design. Without him, the movement’s market, vocabulary, and collecting culture would have developed differently.
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18 cataloged works by Fred Davis
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Quick facts
- Name
- Fred Davis
- Origin
- American; in Mexico from 1910
- Location
- Mexico City (Sonora News Company, later Sanborn's)
- Role
- Designer, dealer, and taste-maker who preceded and enabled the Taxco movement
- Principal marks
- FD, with variants including 925, Silver, and Made in Mexico
- Related makers
- William Spratling (Davis sold early Spratling work)
Museum collections
1 individually documented silver work by Fred Davis in 1 public collection.
- Art Institute of ChicagoChicago
1 documented work
Questions
Who was Fred Davis?
An American who moved to Mexico in 1910 and became a major promoter of Mexican folk art and silver through the Sonora News Company and Sanborn's in Mexico City. He worked with silversmiths before Taxco's Silver Age formed and sold early work by William Spratling.
How can you identify Fred Davis silver?
By the FD mark, which appears alone or with 925, Silver, Mexico, or Made in Mexico. The designs draw on Pre-Columbian, folk, and regional sources with refinement aimed at the Mexico City market.
Was Fred Davis part of the Taxco school?
Not in the workshop sense. He was earlier and broader: a designer, dealer, and cultural intermediary in Mexico City who helped create the market and vocabulary that made the Taxco movement possible.
Market Trends
Total Sales
10
Total Volume
$32k
Peak Year
2019 · $29k
Trend
-73% / yr
Total auction volume by year.
Mark Chronology
FD
FD · 925
FD · 925
FD · Silver
Made in Mexico · FD · Silver
FD · Mexico · Silver
FD · Silver · Mexico
Hallmark Gallery
Work Examples
