Featured Siver gurus...Is it...can it possibly be.....????

but seriously, i dont listen to people who whinge you cant find anything anymore, people have been saying that for years

was watching an old steptoe episode when harold finds an old piece and says the same that you cant find anything anymore because people know everything

 

Lovely find! If it doesn’t say sterling or .925, or have British hallmarks they often have no idea what it is.

 

ive got a tooth, t#ar the minute, a terrible tooth

that ive blasted with codeine

tomorrow might

 

That is so beautiful, Johnny! Amazing find, congratulations!

Ditto. And against the light it is like a Gothic church window, such beautiful colours.

100%.

 

Absolutely gorgeous, Johnny! So glad it landed in your hands. It was meant to be.

 

Brilliant find Johnny, well spotted!

 

Johnny you might send detailed pics to Sotheby's & Christies auction houses.Your beautiful spoon should be worth enough to get their attention & you might get a free appraisal (?).
Ditto to all,magnificent piece.

 

Lovely spoon! Congrats!

I was going to stay out of this because 1) Russian silver is a minefield, 2) it was the reason I left eBay ten years ago, and 3) my qualifications consist mostly of the fact that I can read Russian.

The spoon looks genuinely old and the quality is very good. The owner’s initials in Latin alphabet fit the period. And it is unlikely that you’d find fakes for $3 at Goodwill.

However, I didn’t recognize the dvoinik on the spoon outright — I thought it wasn’t supposed to have the city mark in it. But I did find a similar example on silvercollection.it. See photo below.

(I didn’t find the export mark someone mentioned above. There was an import mark that looked similar. )

Also, it is somewhat unusual to have a Russian silversmith’s mark that consists of just one letter, “A”. One might also expect to see more examples of his or her work, especially if it is this good and made in 88 grade silver. A single initial “A” smith in Moscow was’t listed on the sites I checked.

The underside of the spoon also seemed a little unusual to me. Lovely silverwork but perhaps not the most usual kind. I found only two examples of similar work when googling, and wasn’t sure about them either.

That doesn’t mean this kind of work wasn’t done — just that I hadn’t come across it in my limited experience, a long time ago. Cheryl will know this for sure as she taught me the words plique-à-jour…

I was also wondering if the A wasn’t the mark of an unknown artel — there isn’t a lot of information about them in the late 19th C, but it seems many did work for the more famous smiths.

There used to be some real experts on Russian silver on the 925 boards, at least a couple of them seem to be there still. It might make sense to ask there before contacting Christie’s etc — you’d get confirmation of authenticity faster.

Unless Cheryl gets here first…: -)

Photo from silvercollection.it.

 

Congratulations!

If it were me, yes, I would polish it. I would use one of the foaming polishes like Wright's Silver Cream, that way you can wash the excess away so it doesn't get stuck and dry in the crevices

 

They may provide some information, but I think a single item that's less than 5K may not interest them as much as it does for us.

 

That may be why I've yet to find the silversmith . I am not a member of the 925 board but i will certainly see what they have to say. I also cant figure out what it was used for? There are holes so I assume a strainer of some sort,but what ? It was gilded I think at some point,I see traces of it.It was obviously used a bit. Im still so excited ! Hopefully I can get some attributions .If nothing else its been a wonderful learning experience.

 

I also wanted to add I *think* there might be a very worn letter next to the A. I want to say an H.

 

They never bothered opening the sugar bowl. I've found sugar bowls still full of sugar, salt and pepper shakers still full.

 

Probably a sugar sifter. This is a common shape for Russian sugar sifters.

 

Now you're just seeing things from Cloud 9.

 

Agree about it having been gilded and a sugar shifter. I can maybe see a faint H etc too, but not sure what to make of that. Hard to see it as part of the smith’s mark since the A is struck so deeply.. I haven’t been on 925 for a decade, I doubt my password works anymore.

 

So happy for you Johnny!

 

I agree with @moreotherstuff. This is how it came in & even if they looked at the piece they didn't see the word sterling so it was dismissed.

You also need to keep that sugar bowl to remind you to never leave a stone unturned.

 

I'd send pics & a quick description to anyone w/a reputable,decent knowledge base who'll give you an opinion gratis.A shotgun approach may give you a larger data-base from which to base provenance.This 925 Board sounds like a decent start.
PS-You'll just have to keep your head & impartially look at the evidence (not always easy).

 

woo hoo, congrats johnny, a beautiful piece

lol Peggy