Flea Market Find - who is Maker FS?

[Christiane]

Hello,

I found this creamer on a lokal Flea Market. According to this appreciated Site, it was made in Moscow and the Assayer was Lev Oleks. The Maker FS I could not find. Does somebody know him or are there doubts about this Hallmarking? - Thanks in Advance!

[oel]

Hi Christiane.

The supposed Russian triple—element mark looks a little spurious to me, especially the Moscow town mark with no cut corners .
Postnikova mentions an unknown master with the initials F.S for Moscow, with the date 1890 but the letter type is different than yours. Are there any other marks; on the lid and handle?

Oel

[Christiane]

Hi Christiane.

The supposed Russian triple—element mark looks a little spurious to me, especially the Moscow town mark with no cut corners .
Postnikova mentions an unknown master with the initials F.S for Moscow, with the date 1890 but the letter type is different than yours. Are there any other marks; on the lid and handle?

Oel

Hello Oel,

there are indeed hallmarks inside the lid. They look a bit different...
best regards Christiane

[oel]

Thanks Christiane, now we have to wait for the real connoisseurs on the Russian hallmarks.


Oel

[Zolotnik]

Hi Christiane -
in Russia every additional part (handle, lid, decoration, etc.) must be marked. In your case you mustshould have 3 to 4 sets of marks. What gives it as a fake away, among other things, is the "destroyed" mark under the bottom - the only place where a mark stay untouched over the years!

Before you ask how one knows that it is a fake - my standard answer: I've never understood the urge to "learn" about fakes. It's a waste of time. Spend that energy learning about the real thing and you'll know the fakes when you see them because they won't look like the real thing. No matter how much you "learn" about fakes, you'll never know everything about them so it's literally an all-consuming time-suck that has no value since every day new fakes hit the market.

Regards
Zolotnik

[Christiane]

Hello Zolotnik

and thanks for your answer. The piece wasn't sold as silver and sold for almost nothing. So I don't mind. A last question please: Could this creamer be an old fake as the (german) dating pretend?

[Zolotnik]

Hi Christine -

there are several possibilities:
In the case of an authentic piece, it could belong to a German working in St. Petersburg or Moscow (military for example) or a Baltic German who bought this silver in Russia (often the case). What is funny: the creamer was made 1890 but the engraved date is 1886....either an important date (back dating) or a sloppy engraver of fakes who do not know that the piece was made 1890.
You can engrave every object with any inscriptions of your taste at any time - it never is a proof of authenticity - it only reveals sometimes some background informations of the owner (mariage, aniversary, donations etc.) if they are temporary and genuine or cheat if false.

Regards
Zolotnik

[Christiane]

Thank you for your efforts dear contributors.