Cantera Medallion in Sterling Silver & Fire Opal | Ready to Ship

The Cantera Medallion is a .925 sterling silver pendant set with a Mexican cantera fire opal from Jalisco, hollow-formed in cartoneado and hand-raised in repoussé in our workshop in Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico.

Cantera opal is fire opal left inside its host rock. Instead of cutting the gem free, the lapidary keeps the rhyolite matrix around it — so what you get is the opal's fire held in the stone it grew in, with the reds and ochres of the rock as its setting. Every one is a different landscape. Mexican fire opal is found in Querétaro and Jalisco; the stones we use come from Jalisco.

The frame is made with two techniques. It is hollow-formed in cartoneado — sheets of .925 sterling are die-stamped and soldered by hand into a hollow form, so it has volume without weight. Then it is worked in repoussé, one of the oldest metalworking techniques there is and one almost nobody in Taxco still practices. The silver is hammered by hand from the reverse to raise the design — the sunbursts and stars aren't stamped on, they're pushed out of the metal itself. For now, the Cantera pieces are the only ones we make in repoussé.

One piece, one stone, one pair of hands.

Details

• Material: .925 sterling silver, hand-polished
• Construction: hollow-formed in cartoneado and hand-raised in repoussé
• Stone: natural Mexican cantera fire opal from Jalisco, in rhyolite matrix, cut by our lapidary in Mexico
• Dimensions: 4 x 3 cm
• Weight: approx. 14 g
• Bail: integrated sterling silver bail, fits most chains
  
• One of a kind — no two cantera stones are alike
• Made in: our workshop in Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico
• Ready to ship from our Houston, Texas warehouse.
  

Care

Silver is a living material and will develop a patina over time. Polish it with a silver cloth to bring back the shine, or leave it darker — we like it both ways. Opal is soft and holds water: keep it away from perfume, household cleaners and chlorine, never soak it, and store it dry.

Questions

What is cantera opal? Mexican fire opal that is cut with its host rock still attached, rather than freed from it. The opal's fire sits inside a matrix of rhyolite, so the stone reads as a landscape rather than a gem. In Mexico it is found in Querétaro and Jalisco; ours comes from Jalisco. It's one of the few gemstones the world associates specifically with Mexico.

What are cartoneado and repoussé? Cartoneado is a Taxco technique in which sheets of sterling silver are die-stamped and soldered by hand into a hollow form, which gives volume without weight. Repoussé raises the design by hammering the silver from the reverse side, so the relief comes out of the metal itself rather than being stamped or cast. It's thousands of years old, it's slow, and very few silversmiths in Taxco still work this way.

Is there a matching pin? Yes. The Cantera Lapel Pin is made the same way, with the same stone and the same repoussé work — the medallion for a chain, the pin for a lapel.

Is this piece one of a kind? Yes. Every cantera stone is a different pattern, and repoussé is done by hand each time. There is one of this exact piece.

Does it come with a chain? Not yet. The medallion ships on its own, with an integrated sterling silver bail that fits most chains, so you can hang it on one you already love. We're working on our own chain and will offer it soon.