The Shopper: Taxco : Variety of Styles in Silver City

Colonial Taxco, that charming old mining town high in Mexico’s Sierra Madre Mountains (about 2 1/2 hours by car from Mexico City), holds to its reputation as the nation’s Silver City.

With more than 100 shops, visitors choose from an array of silver bracelets, baubles, rings, bangles, earrings, beads, wedding bands, goblets, baskets, boxes, handbags, tea sets, platters and decorative plaques.

These shops surround Plaza Borda, the pretty zocalo (or main square, named after the town’s richest mine owner), and line the narrow cobblestone streets that wind through the town and into the hills.

Sometimes it gets confusing, what with prices and quality varying significantly (shop to shop) on designs that look similar. The problem is amplified by guides who deliver tourists to stores offering them generous commissions.

Although most shop owners are honest, protect yourself by making sure the items you’ve selected have “sterling” or “.925” clearly stamped on them.

Check the workmanship carefully to see that fastenings and hinges are well made, and that there are no rough spots that might snag clothing.

Prices in most shops are fixed, but not too firmly. Often the salesperson will initiate bargaining by offering you a 10% to 15% discount “for you, for today only.” Take that as your cue to bargain.

One of the best known and most reliable shops is Los Castillos in a colonial mansion at Plazuela de Bernal 10. Founded 55 years ago by Antonio Castillo, the business is still owned and run by the Castillo family.

The shop contains a sea of sterling, silver plate and alpaca objects, some of which are set with amethyst, lapis lazuli, onyx, turquoise, mother-of-pearl and other semiprecious gems. Jewelry includes earrings, bracelets and necklaces.

Styles are from Indian-inspired to ultramodern pieces. Unusual necklaces incorporate large beads of silver with chunks of coral ($31) or amber beads and silver fish ($35), men’s heavy silver bracelets with woven links ($226) and agate crystals encased in silver hanging from delicate silver chains ($27).

Los Castillos makes three-tone decorative items such as mirror frames ($15 and up) and cream and sugar sets ($45 and up), designed with a combination of silver, copper and brass. The store specializes in silver plaques and platters ($60 and up), with cutout designs that have been filled in with the birds’ feathers and then coated with clear resins.

Several excellent silver shops are right on the zocalo .

Pineda’s offers items from fine jewelry to silver table services. Unusual are the square-shaped solid silver candlestick holders (4 1/2 inches high for $720 a pair), sleekly modern goblets ($203), silver hair combs ($6), bracelets with a clasp of two hands shaking each other ($31), enameled silver snake bracelets ($123) and silver lily pad brooches with green enameled frogs ($10). A domino set made of rosewood with silver dots in a beautiful rosewood box costs $112.

El Mineral Joyeros is an unusual shop, designed to look like a mine. Rings, necklaces and other items are beautifully displayed on huge pieces of rock crystals.

The shop specializes in attractive inlay work with turquoise, onyx, lapis lazuli and other semiprecious stones set into modern designs of rings, earrings, bracelets, pendants and other pieces ($40 and up).

There are inlaid key chains ($53), chain necklaces of braided silver ($92), hoop earrings with tiny silver and enamel parrots sitting in the hoops ($18).

Sociedad Cooperative Artesanal Jose de la Borda (long name, tiny shop) has unusual pieces, including a purse-size, six-photo picture frame that folds into a ball ($25) and money clips with cutouts of trees or birds ($21). Prices of big silver hoop earrings and other items depend upon their weight, about 75 to 85 cents per gram of silver. A heavyweight chain-link bracelet costs $68 and a super-heavy, square-shaped bracelet is $83.

La Jaula is a good place to get belt buckles. Priced at $9 and up, the buckles have a wide variety of styles from traditional cowboy to haute couture.

Buckles are sold solo, but the shop will attach them to a leather strap on the spot. La Jaula’s nicer jewelry pieces include earrings with a cascade of tiny silver leaves ($20), and link bracelets ($21) and necklaces ($176) that have a woven look.

Taxco’s silver industry predates the conquest. Indians had been taking silver from the Sierra Madre Mountains long before the Spaniards arrived. Hernando Cortez, following their lead, founded Taxco as a mining base in 1522.

The town’s real treasure is Santa Prisca Church, an ornate structure of carved stone built in 1759 with an interior of magnificent carved wood altars of figurines, foliage and molding, all coated with 20-karat gold.

Santa Prisca’s patron, Jose de la Borda, owned Taxco’s richest mine. The church was his way of saying thanks for his good fortune.

As the area’s silver mines declined, so did Taxco’s population and commerce. The town was ignored for many years but its colonial charm was preserved. It was declared a national historic monument and is protected by law.

In the 1930s Taxco, due to its silver industry, began to grow again, mostly because of the brilliant activities of William Sprattling, an American silversmith.

Sprattling moved to Taxco and set up a silver workshop where he took local craftsmen as apprentices and trained them in techniques. Eventually the Sprattling apprentices opened their own ateliers and shops.

As news of Sprattling’s work spread to collectors, Taxco’s silver industry flourished again and continues to do so.

Prices in this article reflect currency exchange rates at the time of writing .