Copyright 2006 Ricardo Ortiz
There are 3 cities in Mexico where silver jewelry is manufacturered: Mexico City, Guadalajara and Taxco. One of them is known as “The World Capital of Silver Jewelry”: Taxco.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TAXCO SILVER JEWELRY AND THE ONE FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD?
1. Compared to the jewelry of countries like India, China or Thailand the quality is better becuase of two reasons:
a) The silver quality is better. Mexico is the biggest silver producer in the world so it is very easy to obtain pure silver in the other hand it is well know some asian businesses sometimes cheat on this aspect. It is very common to find .800 silver instead of 925 silver jewelry or non jewelry pieces marked as sterling jewelry.
b) The finished is better. This is because it is hand finished and looks shinier and more regular.
2. Taxco has hundreds of internationally recognized silversmiths. This tradition comes since in 1929 an american arquitech and designer, William Spratling, arrived to Taxco and founded the first silver jewelry workshop “Las Delicias”, with the time Spratlings silversmiths started their own workshops. Today there are hundreds of workshops producing all kind of desings.
3. All the silver jewelry is handmade.
4. The desings are different from the rest of the world.
5. Excellent prices.
6. In one small town you will find more than 1,000 silver jewelry businesses.
WHERE IS TAXCO?
Taxco is located to north of the state of Guerrero, two hours away from Mexico City by car. Taxco is one of the most beatiful colonial towns in Mexico. Excellent weather. A good choice either for pleasure or business.
WHERE TO BUY WHOLESALE MEXICAN SILVER JEWELRY IN TAXCO?
1. Wholesale Business. These are well stablished stores, generally located downtown.
2. Silver Street Market. This is a street market kown as “Tianguis” where all saturdays people take out a table to the street and offer what they usually make at home.
WHOLESALE BUSINESS
Advantages
1.Taxco has more than 1,000 small and medium size wholesale businesses. You can find for fure in one small town good silver jewelry suppliers.
2.The quality of the silver is always .925 (Sterling).
3.Good prices.
4.You can select a wide variety of beautiful desings.
Disadvantages
1. Not all the businesses are formal and well organized so this give you some problems with the production and export orders.
SILVER STREET MARKET
Advantages
1. In one market there are a lot of small suppliers.
2. Good prices.
Disadvantages
1. Every one of the businesses is specialized in a few designs, you will need to have lots of suppliers to have a good collection.
2. The quality of the silver is NOT always .925 (Sterling) in some cases.
3. They dont make international orders.
FINDING A SILVER JEWELRY SUPPLIER TIPS
1. Look for suppliers with good designs and quality.
2. Look for suppliers with good prices but never sacrifice design and quality for price, always sells more a good design with reasonable price than bad design with “good price”.
3. Look for serious suppliers and well organized. It is not very useful if you find a supplier in Taxco which is not going to satisfied all your needs when you get back home. This is a key point.
4. Look for suppliers with a capacity of having new designs often if they dont have it sooner or later you will have to find new suppliers.
5. If you want mexican silver jewelry plan a first trip to Taxco and then Look for suppliers with an excellent online catalog. This will help a lot.