Center Ball Scrolled Earrings

Each of these earrings is a single scrolled band incised with lines and centered on a silver ball, a tighter, more compact version of Spratling's scrolled-band earring idea. Where related designs hang the ball as a drop, here the ball sits at the center of the scroll, giving the piece a more closed, self-contained form.

The incised lines run along the band and supply the worked surface, while the scroll carries the eye in a single curve. It is an economical design, one curved element and one accent, executed with the clarity that marks Spratling's first-period jewelry.

Variations on the scrolled band recur across the early earrings, and recognizing this center-ball version as one of them is part of reading the group. Examples come to market only occasionally.