I am grateful to you both for resolving this, and for showing me some of the difficulties. Next on my agenda then, Russian lessons and rare books :-) "Tatzel" .
http://f.imagehost.org/t/0464/hallmks_pot_gs.jpg Embarrassing, this badly stamped cup has got real expert attention! So I tried to make better photos of the marks, and looked again with a lens.... There is only one character to the left of the head, I had four in my sketch because it all depends on...
Simply brilliant, thank you. So probably I own a mint example of Soviet kitsch containing almost an ounce of silver, valuable metal converted to scrap near Moscow in 1967!
I'll keep it for 300 years and see what transpires :) .
http://i.imagehost.org/t/0058/cupdr.jpg Hello! Thank you for the instant reply! The markings are so bad that I don't think they can be photographed without forensic equipment. The punching was terrible, then the silver was deep etched for gold plating, not much left to read. I sketched what I could...
http://f.imagehost.org/t/0632/DSCN3161c.jpg I was given this cup in Tallinn. The assay reads 916, head-and-hammer symbol preceded by what may be a small x. However, I can't make out the maker's mark at all, the punches must have been very clogged. Can anyone guess its origin from my hopeless photo?...