Swordfish Brooch

A brooch distinguished by its fastening: the straight brooch running off the back gives it the name "hat brooch," or stick brooch, the long shaft meant to pierce and hold rather than clasp. The form is defined by its function, the ornament riding at the head of a length of silver.

Stick pins of this kind belonged to the first design period of Spratling's workshop, the Taller de Las Delicias he founded in Taxco in 1931, where hand-wrought silver was made across a wide range of small personal objects.

With no recorded reference and little beyond the form, this is best read as a modest example of that early production. Hat and stick pins are easily separated from collections over time, so intact period examples are the ones to look for.