Hi -
as recently more and more antique silver fakes (English, American, French, German and Russian) of very good quality show up, here is a little warning to keep a watchful eye upon the market and be very vigilant!
Facts:
There are factories in China that advertise on their websites that they can produce any design in flatware that is submitted to them. The advertised minimum quantity is about 1100 place settings in stainless, 500 in sterling, 900, 875, 800, 750 etc. With the economy as it is, and with the advances in laser cut die technology, I suspect that the minimum can be negotiated down quite a bit. My gut reaction would be 250 to 350 pieces with a separate die fee.
Someone willing to broker such a deal is aided by the general phenomena that collectors of antiqu silver usually do not pay attention to the market for new silver. So perhaps 100 Medaillion servers leaked into the antique marked with the remainder being sold as gift type items The servers can have hand decoration that alters them somewhat so they do not look alike. There are numerous examples on the world- and colector´s market.
Please Google Chinese Flatware Factories to learn more!
Regards
Postnikov
.