Russian niello beaker (possibly) ?

[Silver_surfer]

Hello, my mother has bought this set of two beakers from an antique shop in Estonia back in 1977 and we are trying to find out the age of the beakers and where they were made, also possible who made them.
The beakers are both gilded from inside and have letter "G.K." and I.K."

Beakers :


Hallmarks :





The hallmarks seem to have different profiles...we wonder why or are we just imagining ?

[piette]

Hi,
These are not niello (from what I can see) but are just plain silver with engravings - maybe it just looks that way in the picture.
The hallmark with the right facing head is known as The second kokoshnik mark and was used between 1908-1926 (although was used very little - if at all after the Revolution in 1917) so these items date from 1908-1926.
To the left of the head in the mark, is the greek letter, 'tau' which indicates that this piece wall hallmarked in Kostroma.
I cannot find the maker, but someone else on here probably will be able to as I am just an amateur when it comes to Russian silver, whereas there are real experts on here.

So from the pictures I can gather:
Date: 1908-1917
City: Kostroma (Russia)
Maker: Unknown

This information is based on my assumption that these items are genuine. There are a lot of fakes around and I am not yet expert enough to spot the fakes, but from what I have learned so far, the hallmarks look good to me - although I may well be wrong! (I hope I am not!)

Regards,
Piette

[piette]

Also I forgot to mention...
The makers mark is in cyrillic lettering. It is 'ВЗМ' which translates as 'VZM'.

Regards,
Piette

[Silver_surfer]

Thank you piette !

Good to know that they are not niello.

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[piette]

Thank you piette !

Good to know that they are not niello, would they be more valuable that they are niello ?

How much would you think they are worth ?

Sorry, but we don't discuss values on this site. If you want a valuation, you would be better to visit a specialist and have them appraised.

Regards,
Piette

[Qrt.S]

Piette is quite right, not niello but engravings. Unfortunately this master B3M from Kostroma , a town east of Moscow, is unknown. Your vodka cups are called РЮМКА "Rjumka" The hallmark is the same (1908-1927 in reality 1917), but sometimes some minor differences might occur depending on how and where it is punched and by whom.

Have a nice weekend.

Qrt.S

[Postnikov]

Hi -
piette - beyond praise! That´s the way do do it - if you make your homework it´s easy...we will watch you.....:-)

silver_surfer
here is your mark of the silversmith - he is not unknown - his mark is wellknown - but many documents were destroyed at a certain time to make room in the archives. So his mark is known (suvived on many objects, but his name was lost with the documents)

.

Regards
Postnikov