Vindobonensis Money Clip

A silver money clip whose design carries the name Vindobonesis, this is William Spratling applying a named design idea to one of the smallest functional objects in his range. The clip is utilitarian, but the named pattern places it within his catalogued design vocabulary.

It belongs to Spratling's First Design Period (1931 to 1946), the early years of the Taxco revival he set in motion. Spratling, the American who arrived in 1926 and became the central figure in reviving Taxco's silver industry, founded the Taller de Las Delicias and trained the generation that built the Taxco school. A first-period money clip comes from that founding workshop.

For a collector, a named-design Spratling money clip is a compact, everyday-scale piece of his earliest production, carrying a design identity beyond its plain function.