Hector Aguilar Taxco 940 silver ploral pin #2

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Hector Aguilar Taxco 940 silver ploral pin #2 3 5/8" x 2" x 15.7 grams.

Hector Aguilar was a master … Read more Hector Aguilar Taxco 940 silver ploral pin #2 3 5/8" x 2" x 15.7 grams.

Hector Aguilar was a master silversmith, jewelry maker, and the first graduate from William Spratling’s famous apprenticeships in Taxco, Mexico. He met Spratling almost by chance while bringing a load of tourists to Taxco from Mexico City in the 1930s. Aguilar was one of Spratling’s best pupils, who often worked with close-to-pure silver (rated at 980 instead of the 925 of sterling silver on the silver scale). Aguilar was also a great businessman who only stayed at Spratling’s workshop for three years before finding investors for his own workshop, Taller Borda.

Aguilar’s Taller Borda became a huge success in 1943, when they secured a contract with an American jewelry company, Coro. They produced several notable designs for Coro throughout the 1940s. Hector kept Taller Borda running until 1966 when he closed up shop and enjoyed a nearly 20-year retirement, his place in the firmament of great Mexican silversmiths already secured.

What kind of art did Hector Aguilar make? Hector Aguilar was a silversmith, jewelry designer, and artist whose work helped popularize Mexican silver in the 1940s and 1950s. His workshop’s pieces for the retailer, Coro were instrumental in this endeavor. That relationship lasted nearly a decade and produced some of Aguilar’s most vital work. As with most of the Mexican silversmiths from this time, these designs were heavily inspired by pre-Columbian artifacts and the folk art of Mesoamerica. Aguilar’s work continued to innovate over the next several decades, bolstered the quality of his pieces, which often used much more pure silver than his competitors. These days Aguilar’s jewelry is highly sought after for his mastery of the craft of silversmithing as well as its extremely high silver rating.

How did silversmith Hector Aguilar get started? Hector Aguilar was born in 1905 in Mexico City. Not much is known of his early years, but a chance encounter with William Spratling in the early 1930s set him on a silversmithing career that would span three decades. Aguilar brought tourists from Mexico City to the small town of Taxco, a place that as fate would have it also was where Spratling was starting his silver workshop. Aguilar worked for several years as the shop manager for Spratling while also becoming an apprentice silversmith. After three years, Aguilar left to start his own workshop, Taller Borda. That workshop would create countless beautiful pieces, with unceasing quality up until its closure in 1966. See less