Since 1976
Half a century of silver and gold, from Mexico City
D’Argenta — Latin for “of silver” — was founded in Mexico City in 1976 by Ernesto Abraham, a chemical engineer, and his wife Sima. Three generations of the family still run it.
An engineer’s factory and an artist’s question
Before D’Argenta there was a factory. Ernesto Abraham finished precision industrial parts in metal, using a technology that also served aerospace, printing and other industrial manufacturing. Sima, watching the machines at work, asked whether the same care could be given to a work of art.
She gave him an ancient Maya head to try it on. Some months later he came home with it: the face of Pakal, the Maya king of Palenque, the first D’Argenta.
Sold out in ten minutes
Mexico’s national foreign-trade institute saw the work and invited the couple to exhibit at a fair called “Mexico Comes to Rotterdam” in 1976. Within ten minutes of the doors opening, everything they had brought had sold, and they went home with orders.
Sima began visiting Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology, asking permission to borrow original pieces so they could be reproduced faithfully. In 1980 the sculpture work became a company of its own, D’Argenta International.
Milestones
- 1976
- Founded in Mexico City; first piece, the head of Pakal; sold out at “Mexico Comes to Rotterdam”.
- 1979
- Pope John Paul II receives an original D’Argenta.
- 1981
- Gold medal at the International Fair in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
- 1992
- Cover of Made for Export; a D’Argenta gift for Crown Prince Naruhito on his visit to Mexico.
- 1994
- Disney licensee in Mexico; a silver helmet on the cover of the Dallas Cowboys’ Official Catalog.
- 1995
- Exhibits at the Internationale Frankfurter Messe Asia in Tokyo.
- 1997
- HIGH DESIGN award at AmericasMart Atlanta.
- 2020
- The trophy for the first Spotify Awards, Mexico City; design section of Zona Maco.
- 2022
- The Curlin Florida Derby Trophy, designed by Simón Abraham, presented at Gulfstream Park.
Three decades in Frankfurt
For some thirty years D’Argenta took a stand at the international fair in Frankfurt, and for eight years at its sister fair in Tokyo, with others in Atlanta. In time it was given a permanent stand alongside Lalique, Lladró, Baccarat, Christofle, Mikasa and Waterford.
In February 1994 the trade magazine Made in Europe described a company that had led the export market for precious-metal art for fifteen years.
Commissions that travelled
In 1994 Disney welcomed D’Argenta as its licensee in Mexico, with more than twenty-one characters in gold and silver sold through Liverpool and Tane. The same year a D’Argenta helmet appeared on the cover of the Dallas Cowboys’ Official Catalog; in 1996 Troy Aikman signed one.
The Franklin Mint and Wall Street Creations each put a D’Argenta limited edition of 500 on the cover of a catalogue. Little Switzerland sold D’Argenta leopards in the Caribbean. In 2001 Quién photographed D’Argenta leopards at Villa Arabesque in Acapulco, and in 2011 a D’Argenta tiger appeared in Vogue.
Today
D’Argenta still finishes every piece by hand in Mexico City. It makes the Diosa de Plata for Mexico’s film journalists, made the trophy for the first Spotify Awards, and designed the Curlin Florida Derby Trophy. Corporate clients have included Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Kellogg’s, Hershey’s, M&M’S, Goodyear and Tequila Patrón.
It has stayed a family company: in 2020 The Jerusalem Report found Sima Abraham working beside her two sons and two grandsons — three generations, keeping the world captivated through art.
“Everything that has life is a masterpiece of beauty.”
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Trophies, awards and gifts, finished by hand in silver, 24-karat gold and copper in Mexico City. A prototype is ready for your review before anything is committed.