CHARLES ALBERT
- Maker
- Charles Albert attributed, not confirmed
- Struck in
- Taxco, Mexico attributed, not confirmed
- In use
- from 1990 attributed, not confirmed
- Recorded on
- 1 piece
This mark belongs to the American contemporary jewelry brand Charles Albert, founded in 1990. Stamped in clear block lettering as "CHARLES ALBERT", it is frequently accompanied by the descriptor "FINE STERLING SILVER" or "fine sterling silver". While the company is based in the United States, its silver lines are hand-fabricated by silversmiths in Taxco, Mexico, continuing the region's modernist metalworking tradition.
Jewelry bearing this hallmark is characterized by bold, substantial statement construction built around distinctive natural materials. The brand is known for setting large faceted minerals, fossils, raw crystals, and unusual cabochons into heavy-gauge silver. Settings are typically minimalist, featuring wide bezels, openwork bands, and architectural toggle clasps designed to showcase the stone. Pieces often utilize higher-grade .950 fine silver alongside standard .925 sterling, giving them considerable physical weight.
The mark is stamped directly onto the reverse of pendants, along the inner shanks of wide rings, or onto flat toggle bars. It should not be confused with vintage mid-century Mexican studio stamps; the contemporary block-letter designer stamp paired with oversized, unadorned gemstone bezels clearly differentiates Charles Albert production from earlier Taxco or Southwestern work.
Available now with this mark
If your piece also carries a Mexican assay mark, here is how to date it
Mexico ran two systems and which one a piece carries is itself a date. An eagle's head in profile with a number inside it was compulsory from 1948 and discontinued in 1979, so an eagle puts the piece inside that span. The eagle was drawn in outline until about 1955 and as a solid silhouette after, which narrows it further.
From 1979 the eagle was replaced by a letter-letter-number registry mark that is still in use — TL-67, TF-24. The first letter is the town: T for Taxco, M for Mexico City, G for Guadalajara, C for Cuernavaca. The second is the first letter of the silversmith's surname, and the number is their place in that town's register.
The number does not name the maker on its own. Matching a registration to a person takes the register, and collectors have spent decades doing it one entry at a time. Where we cannot say whose it is, this index says so rather than guessing.
| Struck | Means |
|---|---|
| An eagle mark, any number | 1948–1979 |
| TL-67 | After 1979; Taxco, surname beginning L |
What this entry is based on
- one piece carrying this mark, handled and photographed by this shop Written with the piece in hand. No published hallmark reference covers most of these marks.
Nothing outside this shop has been checked for this mark yet. What is above comes from the pieces themselves and from what was written while they were in hand.
Know something we don't about this mark? Tell us — corrections from collectors are how a reference like this gets better.