Taxco Silver: What It Is, How to Spot the Real Thing & Where to Buy

Taxco de Alarcón, in Guerrero, Mexico, is the world capital of silver. From this white-washed, cobblestoned mountain town comes Mexico's most recognized silver jewelry — a craft passed down from one generation to the next. This guide covers the essentials: what Taxco silver is, how to recognize an authentic piece, how it's made, what it costs, and where to buy it with real backing.

What is Taxco silver

Taxco's silver tradition as we know it was born in the 1930s, when William Spratling opened his first workshop and turned the town into an internationally renowned center of silver design. Today Taxco is a byword for fine, hand-worked silver, celebrated every year at its National Silver Fair. Learn why it's the world capital of silver.

How to recognize authentic Taxco silver

Fine silver is identified by its fineness (its purity): .925 (sterling) is 92.5% pure silver and .950 is 95%. Every legitimate piece has its fineness stamped on it, and many Taxco pieces also carry the "TAXCO .925" hallmark as a mark of origin. Learn to read the .925 Taxco hallmark and to tell authentic silver from imitations such as "alpaca" or silver-plated metal, which are not sterling silver.

The craft: how silver is worked by hand

What sets a Taxco piece apart is handwork a machine can't replicate. Centuries-old techniques like filigree —the art of the fine silver thread— or repoussé give each piece its own micro-irregularities and character. It's why two "identical" rings are never truly the same.

How much does Taxco silver cost?

The fair price of a piece of silver jewelry comes down to concrete factors: fineness, weight in grams, handcrafting and stones. We break it down in our guide how much does Taxco silver cost? — so you can recognize a fair price and neither overpay nor over-distrust.

Buy with backing, not promises

A suspiciously low price almost always hides lower-grade silver or pieces with no provable origin. That's why every Arte Taxco piece ships with its verifiable certificate of authenticity: you can check the fineness and provenance yourself, without taking anyone's word for it. And with our Jewelry for Life program, we buy your piece back whenever you want — because authentic sterling silver holds its value.

Explore Taxco silver

Discover our catalog of .925 Taxco silver rings —from clean, minimalist designs to pieces set with semi-precious stones like fire opal, turquoise and obsidian— each one handmade, with its fineness stamped and its certificate of authenticity. Genuine Taxco silver, with the tradition and the backing it deserves.