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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ladybranch, post: 184742, member: 44&quot;]They do look nice. </p><p><br /></p><p>Question to throw out there: on searching for this cup, I found quite a bit of Armenian silver out there. Most had no markings on the silver suggesting Armenian made to me. There were Turkish tughars or later Turkish purity marks but no makers&#039; marks. How, why, what made them, the sellers or owners, think/state Armenian? I guess a few of the pieces had engraved pics of Hagia Sophia with crosses or other churches in the Armenian areas that certainly would suggest the Christian Armenians, and possibly a letter or 2 in the Armenian alphabet, but definitely not on all the silver. I did find the mention of some Armenians silversmiths working for the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Wiki.. article (for what&#039;s worth) on <i>Armenians</i> <i>in</i> <i>the</i> <i>Ottoman</i> <i>Empire</i> does say they were goldsmiths to the sultans:</p><p>&quot;In the 19th century, various Armenian families became the Sultan&#039;s goldsmiths, Sultan&#039;s architects and took over the currency reserves and the reserves of gold and silver, including customs duty.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenians_in_the_Ottoman_Empire#The_Role_of_Armenians_in_the_Ottoman_Economy" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenians_in_the_Ottoman_Empire#The_Role_of_Armenians_in_the_Ottoman_Economy" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenians_in_the_Ottoman_Empire#The_Role_of_Armenians_in_the_Ottoman_Economy</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Interesting article:</p><p><a href="http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/pictures-ancient-armenian-silversmiths-turkeys-van-73168605" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/pictures-ancient-armenian-silversmiths-turkeys-van-73168605" rel="nofollow">http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/pictures-ancient-armenian-silversmiths-turkeys-van-73168605</a></p><p><br /></p><p>One of my nieces is married to a 2nd generation Armenian. His grandparents on both sides immigrated to America from the now Republic of Armenia as young children c1915. He knows nothing about his great grandparents, and now his grandparents and his parents are dead - what a lost of family history. One wonders if his great grandparents were killed in the genocide.</p><p><br /></p><p>--- Susan[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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