u/CaliforniaDreaminArt

Antonio Castillo was a very successful businessman, and in his spare time he was a world-renowned collector of pre-Columbian artifacts from ancient Mexico. He sometimes would use something special from his collections in a one of a kind piece of custom-made jewelry for a highly-regarded customer, and this necklace is one such example. A very simple silver setting that houses the pre-Columbian carved jade figurine, making the ancient artifact the centerpiece of the design!

This ancient jade figurine is from the Mezcala culture (approx. 300–100 BCE), which flourished in the mountainous Guerrero region of Mexico, and who believed that jade and other hard greenstones were possessed sacred life-force, spiritual presence, and protective power. Mezcala artists approached carving as a deeply spiritual act. Rather than viewing a jade figurine as a mere symbol or idol, they believed the stone itself was a "doorway" that housed a living, sacred presence. Every strike of the chisel was considered a prayer or an offering to the entity within the stone.

A one of a kind vintage 1980s handmade sterling silver and pre Columbian jade Figure pendant necklace designed by Antonio Castillo for his family company Los Castillo in Taxco, Mexico. An original pre-Columbian jade carved Figure that has an eyelet at top which indicates it was originally worn as jewelry as a pendant, and this adds greatly to it's charm in my opinion to think of the ancient Mesoamerican warrior or chieftain that might have worn it! The ancient jade figure is of Mescala origin, and from the state of Guerrero where Taxco is located. Antonio Castillo collected pre Columbian relics for his entire lifetime, and over the years he would make the occasional one of a kind piece of jewelry to house some of these relics. This is the only example of this design that I have seen in my 45+ year career, and no doubt it was originally a one of a kind creation for a special customer. The pendant measures 2-1/4" long by 1" wide by 3/8" deep, and is suspended on a sterling backing as shown which hangs on its original handmade sterling silver chain that measures 26" in wearable length. Total weight is 41 grams. Marked as shown, “Los Castillo TA-01 Mexico Sterling” at back of the pendant, and the same marks on the closure as well. A unique piece, and a great addition for any collection of rare Los Castillo or Antonio Castillo! The jade figure has much wear from the normal course of its nearly 2000 year lifetime, and one of the feet looks like it was dinged a very long time ago prior to it being buried for centuries as it still retains residue from the internment in that area. The sterling housing for the pendant and the chain are in flawless condition with just fine light wear and some tarnish as shown.

A magnificent vintage 1940s handmade sterling silver and amethyst Mexican Art Deco floral Orchid design necklace created by Margot in her early days as a designer for Los Castillo in Taxco. All original, and entirely handmade repoussage technique silverwork with lovely and richly colored large amethyst cabochons each measuring just under an inch long! Designed in the early 1940s by Margot van Voorhies when she was married to Antonio Castillo, one of the founding four brothers of Los Castillo in Taxco. These much-desired early designs by Margot are some of the most sought-after pieces by one of the greats during the Silver Renaissance in Taxco! The necklace measures 1-1/2" wide at front and sides, and presently fits up to a 16" neck, but can be easily adjusted to larger sizes with the simple addition of an extender chain at back if needed. Weighs a hefty 100 grams total. Each stone is about 30-35 carats of natural untreated Mexican amethyst times 7 stones in the necklace equals about 210-220 total carats for the necklace! (Just FYI, each stone would cost about $100 to source today, so the value of the stones wholesale is at least $700! Of course, much of todays amethyst has been treated in some way, so really the stones here are much more valuable.) Marked at back as shown, "Los Castillo Taxco Sterling Made in Mexico" and design number "403". An incredible piece of vintage Mexican Art Deco wearable art designed by Margot and completely handmade by the talented master silversmiths at Los Castillo in Taxco! Excellent vintage condition.

A magnificent and very rare vintage 1980s handmade metales casados and mosaico azteca Aztec Chieftain design decorative tazza tray created by Antonio Castillo for Los Castillo in Taxco. A highly stylized Aztec Chieftain figure and the Aztec Dragon aka Quetzalcoatl, formed in metales casados (married metals) and surrounded by mosaico azteca (mosaic stone inlay), all set in a silver-plated tazza tray form. The metales casados figures have incised details, and the chieftain has inlaid stone in his feather headdress. I'm certain that this incredibly beautiful object was intended to be an artwork for proud display rather than a utilitarian item for everyday use, and it looks amazing standing up in a plate stand as shown in my photos! Designed and perhaps even made by Antonio Castillo in the last quarter of his life for his family workshop Los Castillo in Taxco. I've only seen one other of this design ever in my 40+ years in the business! This one is azurmalachite (blue-green-brown stone), the other one was all azurite (blue stone). Measures 15.5" diameter by 2.75" high at rim, and weighs 6 pounds. Marked at back as shown in my photos, design number "777", also "Plateado Hecho en Mexico Los Castillo Taxco TA-01".

This brooch always reminds me of the song, "Money, Money" from the film Cabaret (1972) sung by Liza Minelli and Joel Gray, ... "a mark, a buck, a yen or a pound, is all that makes the world go around, it makes the world go round. Money, money, money, money..."

A huge vintage 1940s handmade sterling silver Piggy Bank & Coins brooch pin designed by Margot for Los Castillo in Taxco. One of her earliest designs from while she was still married to Antonio Castillo in the 1940s, and certainly one of her more appealing and whimsical designs from that period! Measures 4" tall by 2-3/4" wide, and weighs a hefty 34.8 grams total. Marked at back as shown, "Los Castillo Taxco Sterling Made in Mexico" and design number "528". Could also be worn as a pendant with a slip-on pin stem converter. A fantastic piece!

A superb vintage 1950s handmade 'metales casados' aka marriedmetals (silver, copper, brass, and dark silver) Mexican modernist Philodendron Leaf pitcher designed by Chato Castillo for Los Castillo in Taxco. An incredible artwork in addition to being one of the most technically demanding of pitchers to hand fabricate! Designed by Chato Castillo in the early 1950s, and an iconic example of what I call his 'patchwork' design in married metals, the joining together in geometric shapes of various metals using the metales casados technique. Los Castillo made many items in the 'patchwork' design including trays of various sizes and other large serving dishes in addition to salt and peppers sets, smaller drink shakers/pitchers, cups of various sizes, and even several designs in jewelry as well! This pitcher measures about 9.5" tall by 10.25" across from handle to spout. Marked at bottom as shown, "Hecho en Mexico Handwrought Los Castillo Taxco Metales Castillo" and the design number 95 that was used for most everything made in the patchwork design except for the jewelry items. In excellent vintage condition.

"Metales Castillo" was the mark that Los Castillo created because they weren't allowed to trademark "metales casados" even though Chato created the metalworking technique and even coined the phrase to describe it. The mark was being used by copycats, and the knockoffs were being marketed as 'unsigned' Los Castillo in Taxco, something that continues to happen today.

One of the most iconic pitchers created by Chato, and my personal favorite. Relatively rare, and certainly much more work-intensive and expensive to produce than most of the pitchers created later by Los Castillo.

I'm guessing this pendant is from the late 1940s 1946-47, just before the advent of the Eagle mark system in 1948. It's no doubt one of Margots later designs for Los Castillo just before her divorce from Antonio Castillo. A romantic possibly antique carved coral cameo, I'm guessing of Italian origin, overtop a hinged compartment for a photo of a loved one. Remember, this was either at the end of or just after the Second World War, and romantic tokens were all the rage! Probably special-made at a customer's request who more than likely supplied the coral cameo, possibly from an antique necklace or pendant originally.

Measures 2-3/8" tall by 1-1/2" wide by 5/8" at thickest point, and hangs on a later-added sterling chain. Marked at back as shown in the photos.

A tour de force handmade 'metales casados' and 'pluma azteca' Eagle Warrior brooch designed by Chato Castillo and produced by Los Castillo in the early to mid 1950s.

The Eagle Warriors (cuāuhtli) were an elite class of infantry soldiers and special forces in the military hierarchy of the Aztec Empire. They were mostly from the Aztec aristocracy, and they wore elaborate suits covered in eagle feathers and helmets shaped like an open eagle's beak through which their human head could be seen. They carried obsidian-bladed wooden swords called macuahuitl, spear throwers (atlatls), bows, daggers, and elaborately figured shields decorated in bird feathers.

This unique Eagle Warrior design brooch is composed of a sterling silver ‘body’, brass ‘beak’, and copper ‘spear’ - a pre-Columbian green stone bead forms the ‘head’ of the Eagle Warrior with a brass ‘eye’ that is also a rivet to hold the ‘head’ in place - the warrior holds a shield that is composed of silver and multiple colors of inset genuine bird feathers in the ‘pluma azteca’ (Aztec feathers) technique invented by Chato, and at bottom is a fan-shaped section representing the tail feathers of the Eagle Warrior done in three-color ‘metales casados’ (silver, copper, brass) - see the close-up photo of this section for the finest metales casados work that I have ever seen!

The pre-Columbian green stone bead, sometimes called pre-Columbian jade, is a genuine ancient relic from Mesoamerica, probably Mayan in origin, and anywhere from 1000 to 1500 years old. "Pre-Columbian jade" is a term frequently used by archaeologists and the gem trade as an umbrella term for a broad group of green and blue-green decorative stones rather than a single mineral species used in ancient artifacts from Mesoamerican civilizations. To the peoples of ancient Mexico, the primary quality of the stones was their color - green - which symbolized life, fertility, growth, etc. And thus, many different species of green stones were used in their artifacts interchangeably primarily for their symbolic value.

Measures 2.5” tall by 2” wide and weighs 32.5 grams total - marked “Los Castillo Taxco” in a circle above “Hecho en Mexico” at back.

Entirely handmade ‘metales casados’ (copper, brass, silver) with mother of pearl and turquoise inlay all laid down on an ebonized black wood background.
Depicts a seated Aztec or Mayan chieftain or priest with elaborate and dimensional ‘feather’ headdress and jewelry.
These oversized incredible works of art from the final days of Los Castillo circa late 1980s to 1990s were undoubtedly designed by Antonio Castillo and produced by him and his workmen in Taxco.
The largest and most elaborate example that I've seen. The pinnacle of this art form created by Chato Castillo in the 1940s, and fine-tuned and perfected by his brother Antonio Castillo over the course of 50 years!

Early to mid 1940s oversized Mexican Art Deco brooch from Los Castillo entirely handmade hand repoussage sterling silver dimensional floral Flower design - measures 3.5" tall by 2.75" widest point - marked as shown, 1940s era marks, design number "460".

A chunky vintage 1940s handmade sterling silver Mexican Art Deco curling Fern Frond design hinged bangle bracelet designed by Margot van Voorhies for Los Castillo in Taxco. Fabricated entirely by hand from solid sterling silver by the master craftsmen at the Los Castillo workshop in Taxco! An early design by Margot while she was still married to Antonio Castillo and head designer at Los Castillo. A lovely curling fern frond design that is graceful and feminine! Measures 2-1/8" wide at front, and inside fits up to 7.25" wrist fully closed but larger sizes if you don't mind it being open slightly. Weighs 3.3 ounces total or about 100 grams. Marked inside with 1940s Los Castillo marks, "Los Castillo Taxco Sterling Made in Mexico" and design number "250". Excellent vintage condition.

An elegant vintage 1940s 50s handmade sterling silver Mexican Art Deco floral design pin brooch and earrings set by Margot Van Voorhies Carr for Los Castillo in Taxco. Very pretty entirely handmade and curvaceous design set with the famous cornflower blue glass cabochons so adored by Margot and used often in her designs! Margot was married to Antonio Castillo in the early days of Los Castillo, and she was the head designer there for most of the 1940s. This design is from the 1940s and it was made in the late 1940s to the early 1950s. The brooch measures 3" tall by 2" wide. The earrings measure 1" tall by just under 1" wide. Total weight for the set is 1.1 ounce or roughly 31 grams total. Marked as shown, "Los Castillo Taxco Sterling Made in Mexico" with an indistinct design number on the brooch, but the earrings are also marked with design number "695". Excellent vintage condition.

A word on design numbers.

They are not consistent across all periods, materials and objects. There seems to be a sequential series of design numbers for the 1940s jewelry, but objects have their own series. These numbers seem to reset in the 1950s into the 1970s, except on designs from earlier which still carry their earlier assigned design numbers. A similar design on a ring will have the same design number on the bracelet or earrings, but not always on a similar design box. You cannot date an item by Los Castillo based solely on a design number, but rather must take into account other factors including the other marks, the style of the design, materials used, etc.

Antonio Castillo and Margot van Voorhies were an incredible design team as well as a happily married couple! She had great ideas, and he knew how to translate them into actual jewelry pieces. Together they produced the wonderful exotic ornate artworks characteristic of the first decade of Los Castillo.

The examples shown are a necklace design number 456 by Margot, and a brooch design number 514 by Antonio. Both pieces have 1940s Los Castillo marks ie "Los Castillo Sterling Made in Mexico Taxco" along with their respective design numbers.

These items sold June last year at Heritage Auctions in Texas for $1500 including the buyers premium. The new owner is a very lucky person! A rare and absolutely stunning necklace that I've only seen once before! I've seen the brooch a number of times, but this lovely shade of turquoise blue glass in Los Castillo jewelry isn't common.

"Metales Divorciados" (divorced metals) was invented by Chato in the 1940s, and used exclusively for artworks like the example given in the photos. As you can see, the pieces of metal don't touch, thus they are 'divorced' from each other. They are flat pieces of different colored metals (copper, brass, silver), and sometimes include 'metales casados' (married metals) bi-colored pieces, that are lifted above the flat plane of the ebonized wood background on little legs or pegs. The pieces were given a clear-coating to prevent tarnish, but overzealous cleaning can damage or entirely remove the clear-coating and so sometimes you will see examples that have acquired tarnish over time.

This artwork is a modernist design based on a pre-Columbian Aztec Eagle Warrior wearing a military Eagle headpiece. Along with Jaguar warriors, Eagle warriors formed the highest-ranking military societies in the Aztec Empire, serving as shock troops and commanders. This warrior is also wearing an ear plug, and pendant earrings. In front of him are a brass sun (at top), a bi-colored silver and brass pyramid (middle), and a silver cactus (bottom), probably a blue agave. The main Aztec pyramid in the capital city of Tenochtitlan was the Templo Mayor, which served as the religious and political center of the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs referred to the agave/maguey plant as metl in Nahuatl and revered it under the guise of the goddess Mayahuel. They used its sap (aguamiel) to ferment pulque for sacred rituals, roasted the hearts for food, and utilized its tough fibers for rope, paper, and clothing.

A striking modernist artwork, though it's one of the smaller that Chato created using the 'metales divorciado' technique. Measures 9" tall by 7-7/8" wide by almost 3/4" thickest points. I have three of this particular design in my collection, so they are not unique pieces. Chato sold these artworks through the Los Castillo shops in Taxco, Mexico City and Acapulco, and perhaps in the US too. His 'divorced' designs were the originals, no one had done anything similar before him. Afterwards, his designs no doubt gave birth to the religious artworks by Talleres Monasticos and Emaus which were also sold through Los Castillo and thus I'm guessing had permission to borrow his techniques, and a million other copycats who didn't ask or receive his permission.

Marked at front with Chato's coiled serpent conjoined "Ch" signature mark, also at back with the applied brass plaque marked "Chato Castillo Taxco". Note that all of Chato's signatures included his name either in full as in this example, or in part as in "Made by Chato". There is a great deal of confusion online about his marks with many items mis-attributed to him. Part of the confusion is exacerbated by one of the online marks reference websites attributing a mark to him that isn't his. I have written to them multiple times requesting that they remove the misinformation, but they have never responded or removed it. The best source for definitive information about his marks, and really any of the maestros from Mexico, is the Hougart book on Mexican Silver Hallmarks. It's even for sale on Amazon in a kindle version that you can reference on your phone from anywhere. Perfect for shopping trips, flea markets, etc!

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Miguel Pineda Godoy was born in Mexico City in 1940 and was introduced to enameling by Maggie Howe, American born artist who opened an enamel work shop in the Mexican capital. Pineda studied with her from 1958 to 1960; afterwards he devoted himself to experimenting on his own, learning new techniques and specializing in cloisonné, champlevé, sgrafitto and painted enamel. He sold his pieces thru Los Castillo in Taxco and Mexico City, and also at Sanborns in Mexico City. From 1966 onwards he fully dedicated his career to enameling and later, in the 1980s, to jewelry design. Nowadays he has an extensive catalog that include jewelry, trays, vases, plates, pictures and chalices in copper, silver or 24k gold plated. His designs include a wide variety of Pre-Columbian scenes and idols based on the Mayan and Aztec codices, modern abstract art, Byzantine, orthodox and catholic images and original designs that are influenced by the different themes he works with. His jewelry in sterling silver is usually sleek and sculptural and large statement sizes as it was mostly made in the 1980s. His artwork has been exhibited in Spain, the United States and Mexico and he is a permanent exhibitor in Mexico City's Bazar del Sabado since 1972, which is an exhibition center founded in 1960 by Ignacio Romero who designed the space and called a group of excellent artists to exhibit their work there. A special committee evaluates an artist's work before accepting him as a permanent member of this renowned center. Pineda has been appointed by the Catholic Church to do several religious enameled pieces, among the most important are the panels decorating the 36 doors of the famous Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City. The panels (15" x 32") are made up of sections of champlevé enamel on copper. It took him three years to plan, design and carry out this work. He also made the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe placed in the chapel of San Lorenzo in the Vatican. It is a single piece of copper measuring 2 ft. by 3 ft., enameled with mixed techniques. His son, Mariano Pineda, now runs the business, and is himself a talented enamelist.

On the right, the pre-Columbian carved stone sculpture from the archeological site of Xochicalco (about 25 miles from Taxco), and on the left Chato Castillo's award-winning jewelry design in 'metales casados' (married metals), 'onix negro' (black onyx inlay), and 'mosaico azteca' (mosaic stone inlay) titled "Perfil de Perico" that won first prize at the 1955 Silver Fair in Taxco. (see first photo)

The celebrated Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo, who served as a judge for the competition, was so captivated by Castillo's award-winning modernist design that he presented the workshop with an original watercolor sketch incorporating the brooch as the head of the parrot. (see second photo)

There is no doubt that the Castillo brothers, particularly Antonio and Chato, were aware of the Mayan archeological site at Xochicalco which was only 25 miles away from Taxco, and an easy day-trip there and back by car. Xochicalco was undergoing major excavations and restoration efforts in the 1940s through the 1960s, and doubtless the Castillo brothers visited, and I'm guessing that it was there that Chato saw the Mayan Parrot Head sculpture shown in my first photo that was likely the inspiration for his most famous design!

Antonio Castillo was an internationally recognized expert on pre-Columbian artifacts, and had a large collection that he had spent his entire lifetime collecting. He occasionally used some of the pieces from his collection to make unique pieces for his special customers. This is one of those pieces. I purchased it from the estate of an American collector of Mexican silver jewelry and objects and pre-Columbian artifacts.

Translation for the ad: “Not all occasions demand silver service, but the distinction is always one of good taste, for tea or coffee, the new copper and brass line from Los Castillo lets you celebrate these occasions!”

At the time that this ad appeared, Los Castillo was at the height of their success with hundreds of silversmiths employed by them. They had shops in Taxco, Mexico City, and Acapulco. Their work was sold in major American cities in department stores, boutiques, and art galleries. Their designs are held by many museums in Mexico and internationally.

In the late 1950s Los Castillo produced this line of copper and brass coffee and tea service. They were handmade from copper or brass, and the insides were given a silver plate. The handles were covered in a woven rattan section to insulate from heat.

The coffee/tea pot shown in my photos measures about 10" from spout to handle by 6.5" widest point, and stands 5.5" highest point. It weighs just under 2 pounds total. Marked at bottom as shown with the 1950s circular mark, "Los Castillo Taxco".

There is no attribution for the design given in the advertising or published in any of the literature on the subject, but I am guessing that this object was designed by Justo "Coco" Castillo because it is so similar to another in my collection signed by him. Other pieces in the line advertised may have been by others, I can't say for sure.

Shown is one of the very rare boxes designed by Popowski for Los Castillo, and the matching belt buckle. In my collection, I have the matching cufflinks, brooch, and earrings. I haven't seen any other forms of the design, but I'm not ruling them out.

Very much in the style of his brother, Chato Castillo, this ‘jaguar’ design belt buckle uses the ‘metales casados’ technique with four shades of metal, light and dark silver, brass, and copper, and with black onyx and tortoiseshell inlay. Circa 1980s.

In the last 20 years of his life, 1980-2000, Antonio Castillo continued his innovations in silver art with new works in amber, carved stones, and his dynamic settings of pre-Columbian ancient artifacts, of which he was a world renowned expert and collector.