Featured Antique gold pendant / brooch. 40 mark, Russian? Part of modular parure?

AJ, what a searcher you are!
I had no idea German used the term duble

Really, you may be right

 

We aim to please, even ourselves.

 

Now that's cool. I wonder when the Germans pulled out, or if they did.

 

Ethnic Germans were generally treated worse than other minorities in Russia, so in the 19th century many emigrated to the US and other countries.
Persecution during the Soviet era, particularly the 40s, was horrendous. Most were deported to camps in outlying parts of Russia, where many died of starvation, etc.
In the 50s some families were allowed to migrate to Germany, and after Perestroyka many followed.
But there are still Germans in Russia, mainly in Central Asia where they had to stay even after the deportation period. The Russian republic of Altai, Central Asia, constituted several German national districts. Those who did not wish to migrate to Germany were allowed to live together in the districts in Altai.
More recently families began going back to western Russia and in the 90s, after an agreement between Russia and Germany, the historic German-Russian Volga Republic was restored.

 

I can't say I'm surprised. It makes me wonder if one of my umpty-great grandfathers wasn't one of those Russian Germans. It would make sense of the family stories that came down. It's hard to be sure at this point of course, since the last person who would have known for certain died circa 1935.

 

Interesting evelyb, could very well be. Maybe you can find out through immigration records, Ellis Island, etc.
Countless Germans went to Russia to escape the many wars between the different German countries, and resulting famine and disease.
And I know that the German mercenaries who fought in the Dutch independence war against the Spanish, in the 16th century, were recruted by the Russians when 'our' war was over.
Those who became Volga Germans were invited by the Tzar to develop agriculture in that region. And many came as master craftspeople everytime the Russians had a taste for Western arts and crafts.
There is an intriguing link between the story of the Pied Piper and German emigration to eastern Europe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin

 

Unfortunately, he came to the USA in the 1850s, predating Ellis Island by a fair bit. I know for sure he went to England before heading to the US, because he got married there. The family story says he was getting out of Dodge ahead landing back in the military again; he'd been in the artillery and had no desire to go back in. How true that is ...dunno. He was a blacksmith in civilian life, so it could all fit. He could also just have been one of the gazillion ethnic Germans who lived in what's now Poland.

 

A little update.
I ran into a collector of 19th century European jewellery, and asked her about the mark. She knew it, and explained that 19th century Russia required all precious parts of a jewel to be marked, often in a combined mark. She said in this case the front was 40 zolotniky gold (she corrected me on that one, it is one zolotnik, multiple zolotniky) and the back was doublé. She agreed that doublé was mostly used by ethnic German goldsmiths, who preferred it to silver or brass backs.
Silly me, I hadn't noticed the distinct seam between the two parts. Here you can see the difference between the doublé back and the gold front:

 

Thanks AJ for the update and great explanation of the mark from your friend collector!

 

SO much information to catalouge and find a place for in my cluttered brain............does it never stop?

Well, yeah, I guess it does..........but who wants to go THERE??????????