Need Help With Russian Samovar?

I recently bought this item at a rummage sale simply because the design intrigued me. I did not know what it was. After a little bit of research, I believe that it is a Russian Samovar. Can someone help with the identity and worth? I am adding a few pictures.

 

well, it's missing pieces....so unless it's silver..... low value

 

It's not silver, but it's a heavy metal.

 

thank you for responding.

 

Hi, @Mellie -- The translation of the abbreviated words on the mark led me to the full words. This was made by the Shemarin brothers factory in Tula, Russia. Tula was well known as a manufacturing city for samovars. I know that here on Antiquers we've discussed samovars in the past. I thought we'd found some information about those brothers. Currently I find a lot of Shemarin samovars for sale on the web but haven't found the information about the brothers. [Sentence deleted.]

Added: I just looked on the site, and it was a different set of brothers we were discussing. The Batashevs. So I'm not sure when the Shemarin brothers were in business.

 

Thank you for this information! I read somewhere that Tula steel samovar's were available beginning in the second half of the 19th century. I'll keep digging. Thanks again for responding!

 

Hi @Mellie,

Sorry for not responding earlier, I can help you.

Yes, Figtree is right (as usual), it is Brothers Shemarin samovar. I found some information in Russian about them - there were 5 brothers in the business, they opened a workshop in Tula in 1887, when one of the brothers, Vladimir, married the widow of the weaponry maker Gudkov and she brought the workshop as her dowry. Tula is mostly known as weaponry making town since the times of Peter i. Also samovars, yes, but weaponry mostly.

In 1899 the brothers opened their own company "Торговый Дом Бр.Шемариных" (maybe I am not precise here as they had their own workshop before but opened a factory plus retail, a bigger business, I don't know how to translate "Торговый Дом" - holding? Inc.?), built a bigger factory and enlarged the business.

They were equal to Batashev's quality and prestige - actually second to them by production volume and number of employees. They knew Nikolay II and supplied the Persian court, participated in Paris exhibition in 1899 (received a silver medal there) and had many awards from exhibitions. Before WW1 they employed more than 700 people in their business.

So basically the samovar can be dated between 1899 and 1914 (during WWI it stopped working). Their samovars were made of different materials like copper and brass, and were of 100 different types. No mention about silver.

In 1918 the factory was nationalized and was named "Lenin Factory" and stopped working ten years after that. .

Their samovars are quite expensive in Russia now - in Meshok (the "Russian ebay") it costs between 10000 and 50000 Rubles (no info about condiion or missing parts...) which is a lot for Russia. So I can't agree with Komo's appraisal

One more detail on dating - traditionally when Shemarin received a medal or award, they marked with it all their consequently produced samovars, so there are samovars with 10 or more medals engraved on them. Here I see three medals engraved so the production date must be closer to 1899 than to 1914.

 

I do not take umbrage with your disagreement !

but , I still contend that the item here will not rise to such a high value ...

it ' was ' found at a rummage sale , not a high end antique shop....

 

Haha, Komo, I wouldn't expect you to do!
What I wanted to say is that this is a brand samovar, Tsarist Russian and of the best quality brand, and as such it is not cheap no matter the metal.

I don't know what you mean by "high price", it is a relative term - for me it can mean something very different than for you. I judge by the comparative price levels in Meshok that it is regarded valuable in Russia. Of course, there are much more valuable items from Tsarist times - Faberge eggs is just an example.

No idea what price it can fetch, though. No expert in pricing.

 

The rummage sale was of an antique collector's items. I'm not sure where he had originally bought it. But, all of this information is very helpful. I'm not sure how to proceed, but will try to get some assistance locally. I appreciate the time that all of you took in providing the information and responding!