Can anyone identify the Artist - AEM overlay pin

[dan_A]

I'm a newbie to this forum and hoping that I'm doing this the right way. Thanks for your patience and help.

dan_A

[antiquer]

Hi Dan,

Nice mark photos. Sorry to say, the holder of this mark is presently unknown. There are thousands of Mexican smiths who's work is known but who's names remain unknown. Up until the 1970's, record keeping, in Mexico's assay offices, was a pretty spotty affair. Most of the names we know today are because the makers became well known during their productive years, due to the high quality of their designs and better craftsmanship in their workshops. Of course, there are plenty of great pieces by unknown Mexican smiths and you may well have one here.

I've handled a fair amount of their pieces and know that "AE in M" has produced some pretty good work. The mark is sometimes referred to as AE in a heart, but after you've seen various stampings of it, it becomes clearer as an M.

Here's what I can tell you about them. The mark is usually seen in conjunction with Eagle #23, so they were producing between 1948 and the mid to late 1960's. Apparently they were fairly successful, having purchased and registered there own eagle number rather than using the generic #3 of the Taxco assay office.
Some of the work is made from heavy sterling, but they also made a lot of light gauge stuff. I'm guessing that the heavy gauge pieces are earlier work and, as time went on, they began to cut corners in production. The technique of your piece is called silver overlay; sheets of sterling soldered atop an oxidized sterling background. If you polish the high parts and leave the background dark, it will show a strong graphic contrast, as it was meant to.

Cheers,
AinA

[dan_A]

AinA

I want to thank you very much for your informative and rapid reply. I really appreciate the time that you took to give me and others, a piece of this history and your experience.

Not being familiar with this forum, how long do you think I should keep the photo available for viewing in my original message?... or should I remove it now? I don't know the custom for that on this list.

Thanks again

Dan_A

[admin]

Hi Dan,
Good question, good answer, it would be nice to have it up as long as you possibly can handle it. Coupla years should do it.
Best, Tom

[dan_A]

Haha... It's okay. I'll leave it.

dan_A

[blulime12404]

Hi Dan!
I believe your piece is by the very talented maker Stella or Estella Popowski. I have had many pieces with this mark, and if you do a search of her name, you'll find other pieces with the identical mark. It's a mystery why her pieces are signed that way... “Made in Mexico, Sterling 925” with the eagle mark “23” and the Popowski mystery “AE” mark within the surrounding heart-shaped “M”. Your piece is not untypical of her fine work. I hope that's helpful!

[finnegan]

Hey Blulime,
Stella Popowski did do designs for AEM, but she wasn't a maker. She is a fine artist, who did some jewelry designing while living in Mexico in the 50's & 60's. Her designs were produced by AEM, but include her name in the marks. Most of her designs are abstracts done in mixed metals and resin that have a strong & colorful graphic sense to them, like miniature abstract paintings.
'course AEM produced plenty of designs that were not by her, and I think this is one of them.

Fin
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