Vintage FzR Sterling Silver Aztec Eagle Mexican Western Belt Buckle

Vintage FZR Sterling Silver eagle Aztec Mexican Western Belt Buckle. 1940s Mexican Vintage fzR belt buckle Beautiful, Mexican, Sterling Silver BELT BUCKLE Made by Platería FZR MEXICO. Workshop This is an early, rare, and important piece! Sterling silver BELT BUCKLE IS 1"¾×1"¼ will accommodate up to a 1? Wide belt WEIGHT 29.7grams belt buckle is engraved in the back with the letters 1975 SLTC The eagle was a sacred creature in Aztec thought, believed to have been present at the birth of the sun (hence, the blackened'singed' wing tips) and was the symbol of one of the elite warrior orders in Aztec culture, Pennock explains to Live Science.

The contemporary silver jewelry industry in Mexico began in the mid-1920s and coincided with a great revival of interest in archaeological research. Museums were adding excellent examples of pre-Hispanic art and publishers were bringing out important new books on archaeological subjects.

Taken by the beauty of ancient Indian designs which made traditional styles pale by comparison, the better jewelry designers began to incorporate them in their work. Interestingly, two Americans were at the forefront of this new direction in Mexican jewelry making.

He developed a fascination with the popular arts of Mexico which eventually gravitated into silver jewelry. Davis worked with silversmiths in Mexico City, encouraging them to make silver jewelry for his shop which he described as unmistakably Mexican. He took naturally to designing silverwork, jewelry, flatware, serving pieces and boxes and ultimately to producing it himself. In his years as manager of antiques and fine crafts at the famed Sanborn's department store in Mexico City, Davis influenced countless Mexican silversmiths through his ideas on style and design.

William Spratling, trained in the United States as an architect, came to the beautiful mountain community of Taxco, Mexico in 1929. Within two years, he turned his talents to designing and making jewelry and established a workshop. By 1940, he had over 100 silversmiths in his workshop producing Spratling designed silver jewelry that tourists bought up almost as quickly as it was produced. The list of men and women who learned their craft in his workshop reads like a Who's Who of the Mexican silver jewelry industry. Many of Spratling's smiths and others who learned from them went on to found their own shops and produce works still eagerly sought by collectors. Here are just a few of the famed Mexican designers whose work you will find in our shop: Hector Aguilar, Antonio Piñeda, Victoria, Beto, Margot of Taxco, Los Castillo, Los Ballesteros, Maricela, Alfredo Villasana and of course, William Spratling and Frederick Davis.

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