The image above shows some of the more typically used Mexican silver purity marks used from the turn of the century to the 1970s. The “900” mark was typical around the turn of the century until around the 1920s.
Pieces that are marked “Mexico's Silver” and “Silver made in Mexico” were common from the 1920s until the 1940s, the silver standard of these pieces tended to vary but they were regularly above .925 purity.
Also, from the mid-1930s until the mid-1940s the intaglio marks: “925”, “940”, “960” and “980”, became popular. A favorite of Antonio Pineda was the stamp mark “970”. As of the 1950s, artisans started using the stamp “sterling” or “.925”.
Then in 1948 the Mexican government instituted the embossed “Eagle” mark, which changed to an outline of an eagle in 1955 and lasted until the late 1960s right into the early 1970s. It is interesting to note that whereas the number on the Eagle’s chest usually indicated the city of origin of any particular piece, some numbers were also registered to specific designers. For example, number three was for Taxco and number one was for Mexico City, whereas number 16 was registered to Margot.
Hopefully you will now have a clearer idea of the systems that were in place, however, always keep in mind that there were many variations and exceptions to the examples set out above. It was only in 1979 that the Eagle system was replaced by a letter and number symbol that denoted the specific silversmith and guaranteed sterling silver standard. See the image below:
IMAGE
The first letter specifies the city of origin - M is for Mexico City, T is for Taxco, C could be Cuernavaca and G is thought to be for Guadalajara. The second letter stands for the last name of the silversmith, and to avoid confusion, the number indicates the number of silversmiths registered that town under a last name starting with that letter as of the year 1979.
Once again, these systems that were put into place gives us a guideline to determine details about a particular piece, but as before there has been many exceptions which makes it wise to be wary and consult with the specialized collector if buying a collectible. However, .925 still denotes sterling Silver, just as other the other numbers denotes other silver quantity, and thus you can always be sure of the quality when buying Taxco jewelry or any other Mexican silver jewelry.
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