MT081  Vintage Margot de Taxco sterling silver and blue/green confetti enamel bracelet and earrings; circa-1955 to 1978
Origin:  Taxco, Mexico
Dimensions: 
     Bracelet – 7.18" x .63"; 38.2 gm
     Screwback earrings – .88" x .63"; 8.1 gm
Condition:  Excellent – under magnification, no missing enamel.
Provenance:  To be published in Penny Morrill’s upcoming book on Margot van Voorhies Carr – Margot de Taxco
Price:  $850.00

Cool shades of blues, greens, earth and gold confetti make this snail shell bracelet and earring set sparkle like a riverbed illuminated by sunlight.  To the Aztecs, the snail was a symbol of rebirth, personified by the moon.  The moon god Tecciztecatl was depicted with a snail shell on his back, symbolizing the phases of the moon which appears and disappears, like the snail that withdraws into and reappears from its shell.  The snail also represented the union of the Earth and the watery underworld, giving occult knowledge of death and re-birth.  Two 10th century golden discs taken from the Sacred Well at Chichen Itza depict an old king emerging from a snail shell, suggesting a spiritual rather than a physical birth. According to some scholars, the old man emerging from the snail shell heralds “the arrival in the world of ancient hidden knowledge." Margot’s snail shell set draws the eye with its mesmerizing spiral geometry, its sparkling earth and water hues, and a promise of personal renewal.