Obsidian Disc Necklace

A single obsidian disc flanked by smaller silver discs, hung from a fine elongated-link chain, distills Spratling's design to a play of circles in two materials. The black volcanic glass at the center is purely Mexican, the silver discs his recurring articulating device.

Obsidian was a native material Spratling favored, and the elongated-link chain is a construction he used across his necklaces. The disc-against-disc composition reflects the simpler, surface-and-line approach his jewelry took on at maturity (Morrill, p. 73).

The necklace is recorded in Penny Morrill's Maestros de Plata and Phyllis Goddard's Spratling Silver field guide.