I recently bought this teapot and was astonished to discover that it is probably Russian silver, as I expected that it was going to turn out to be some kind of silver plated item. It has a maker's mark, and the characters do appear to be Cyrillic but I have not found this combo of initials listed anywhere so far. It also has a city mark, but I cannot determine what city it is, or whether I'm looking at it upside down, or what. Last but not least, it also has a Kokoshnik mark that is somewhat worn, it's the earlier mark with the head facing to the left, and any assayer's initials are pretty much unreadable. The teapot is marked with the maker's initial stamp in three places: on the bottom, with the city mark, on the side of the top, with the Kokoshnik mark, and also on the handle, although that mark is about half off the handle. I did not include a photo of the maker's initials mark from the handle, but here are a photo of the entire teapot, plus the two other locations with the city mark and the assay/Kokoshnik mark. It has a carved little wooden stopper that fits snugly, and the inside is gilded, I think. Images to follow. Permission granted to include these in your Russian marks examples, I will try to remember to actually email them as instructed unless I hear that you've been able to use them from this posting. Thanks in advance for any info on these marks. I have become most curious since purchasing this item!
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pM ... directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/9N ... directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yx ... directlink
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Russian Silver teapot, cannot decipher city or makers marks
Congratulations on a very good purchase. It is absolutely Russian and in silver 875/1000. The style is in Russian Art Nouveau, which is not so common. But is the wooden lid really the original one? I have my doubts...?
Nevertheless, to my mind it is from Moscow and made by a woman by the name of Varvara Aleksejevna Baladanova 1896-1908. The assayer is Ivan Lebedkin in Moscow (ИЛ).
It is fully correct that your teapot has several marks. The Russian regulations stipulated that each separate part of an item should carry a mark. The piece was brought to the assayer unfinished and unpolished but each piece marked with the maker's mark. It was strictly forbidden for the assayer to put his mark on unmarked pieces. The assayer retained the right to put his mark(s) where ever he wanted to do it. This in order to avoid a later change of pieces to pieces made of unqualified silver quality i.e. less than 84/96 (875/1000) zolotnik.
However, is it a tea- or a coffeepot? To my mind it is a coffeepot but this is a matter of opinion anyway.
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Nevertheless, to my mind it is from Moscow and made by a woman by the name of Varvara Aleksejevna Baladanova 1896-1908. The assayer is Ivan Lebedkin in Moscow (ИЛ).
It is fully correct that your teapot has several marks. The Russian regulations stipulated that each separate part of an item should carry a mark. The piece was brought to the assayer unfinished and unpolished but each piece marked with the maker's mark. It was strictly forbidden for the assayer to put his mark on unmarked pieces. The assayer retained the right to put his mark(s) where ever he wanted to do it. This in order to avoid a later change of pieces to pieces made of unqualified silver quality i.e. less than 84/96 (875/1000) zolotnik.
However, is it a tea- or a coffeepot? To my mind it is a coffeepot but this is a matter of opinion anyway.
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Thanks very much for this information!
In truth, I don't know if it is for tea or coffee, but either way, I am fond of it.
I also do not know whether the wooden lid is original, and it could very well be a hand made replacement for one that was damaged, or missing. It does look as if it was hand carved though, and the person who made it did a very fine job of making it fit correctly, in any case.
Did I mention that you are welcome to add these photos to the makers mark reference pages? Let me know if you will need to have me email a copy directly to the specified address. If you can simply download a copy from the site for this topic's photos, you have my complete permission to do so for use here on the site. I'd be honored!
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In truth, I don't know if it is for tea or coffee, but either way, I am fond of it.
I also do not know whether the wooden lid is original, and it could very well be a hand made replacement for one that was damaged, or missing. It does look as if it was hand carved though, and the person who made it did a very fine job of making it fit correctly, in any case.
Did I mention that you are welcome to add these photos to the makers mark reference pages? Let me know if you will need to have me email a copy directly to the specified address. If you can simply download a copy from the site for this topic's photos, you have my complete permission to do so for use here on the site. I'd be honored!
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