Ruffled Band Earrings

A ruffled silver band formed into a circle, adorned with small silver beads and a single dangling silver ball, gives these earrings a soft, all-silver liveliness without any applied stone. They are recorded in Morrill and Berk's Mexican Silver: 20th Century Handwrought Jewelry & Metalwork and date to the first design period.

Working the whole design in silver, with the ruffled band and beadwork carrying the ornament, keeps the focus on the metal and on the movement of the dangling ball. Beaded and ruffled silver is part of Spratling's early jewelry vocabulary.

Documented first-period earrings of this all-silver type are collected as examples of the workshop's early design range, and come to market only occasionally.