www.925-1000.com

Hello forum,

I have this modern Russian jug made after 1958. I would be grateful if a member of the forum could give me any information about the maker and their dates. The marks seem to be:

1) KXK2 to the base
2) M, hammer & sickle in the star, 875
3) What might be an 'M' to the inside of the handle.

Thanks in advance,

Silverk.

Hi,
The mark KXK is a bit different from what I have seen (not rectangular) but could be Кубачинский художественный комбинат
Kubachi art factory, founded in 1924 as «Ремесленник» (Craftsman). KXK since 1960.
http://kybachi.ru/

Regards

Please do not mix Russian made with Soviet made objects! The difference in quality more than BIG! This jug/creamer is made 1962 in the factory AG 2012 mentions

Excellent. Thanks to you both for your help. I realized my Russian/Soviet error as soon as I had submitted the question...

Logically, then, would it be right to say that the '2' represents 1962 and that the number increases with each year?

Regards,

Silverk.

Well, it is not quite that simple, but in general yes, you could say so. In a thread years ago the system was explained but I cannot find it for the moment. Dognose has a "nose" for old thread. Maybe he could find it??? )just asking...)

Fond the thread! Here is some help. Unfortunately there seems to be some disturbance in the inputs. Anyway, look at an input made July 7 2009 at 8:43. It might help you to understand the system
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=16737&p=38380&hilit=quite+handy+in+dating#p38380

Thanks for the link and I've read the thread now.

So, this leads me to a few more questions, if you are happy to answer them!:

1) Is the Kubachi art factory a mass production factory, or a low-production, higher quality artel?
2) Does this piece come from Moscow or Dagestan? (I would have thought Moscow given I haven't been corrected, and the use of the 'M' in the mark)
3) The thread referred specifically to the year code being in front of the year code, but it would seem that there's a cycle with the year code being appended instead.

Of passing interest is that the assay mark is a not of the unusual form discussed in the thread.

Regards,

Silverk.

Generally speaking, the quality of silver during Soviet era sharply declined after the revolution, both in design and craftsmanship.
They managed to participate abroad with carefully chosen silver made for particular exhibitions (e.g. "Северная чернь" In Paris 1937 ).
Of course, not every silver item made in Imperial Russia was of exquisite quality, but again, generally speaking much better than Soviet silver.
In regard of mass production, yes, Kubachi art factory production was rather abundant and niello was shallow, almost oxide painted similar to modern fakes.
Even famous nationalized workshops declined, the most notable example being nationalized Khlebnikov workshop transformed into Moscow ``Platinopribor``"Платиноприбop``,nothing even close to Khlebnikov (except for cutlery but they had original molds).
Regards

Hi AG2012,

That's very interesting indeed, most of which was new to me.

Thanks for everyone's help on this,

Silverk.

Hi -

here an example of the "quality" of spoons made by the mentioned Soviet firm...





Regards
Goldstein