Crossed Hands Necklace

Two crossed hands, one of silver and one of tortoiseshell, framing a superimposed yin-yang symbol, this necklace folds Spratling's material contrast into an emblem of duality, the bright metal set against warm shell on either side of a balanced sign. The hand was a motif he returned to across forms.

The pairing of silver with tortoiseshell is the contrast Morrill identifies as central to Spratling's work, where richness came from the interplay of metal and shell (Morrill, Mexican Silver, 1994, p. 73). Here the two materials carry the symbolic weight of the design directly, one hand light and one dark.

The same design was made as a belt buckle in silver and tortoiseshell, and the necklace was also produced in silver and azur malachite, the workshop's habit of carrying one form across materials. It is recorded in Goddard's Spratling Silver: A Field Guide.

Museo Franz MayerMexico City, MexicoOn view

Collar manos (hands necklace), 1947-1967

Photo: Museum of Mexican Silver, taken in-gallery at Museo Franz Mayer, February 2026.

Verified against each institution's own collection records. All museum collections