Tea Spoon

[cww1960]

I have tea spoons with a Kokoshnik mark for Odessa with a hallmark with S.T.Berg next to it, is this correct?

[Qrt.S]

Odessa??? It is α (Greek alpha) for St. Petersburg. The maker's mark AK is in some sources mentioned to be Aleksandr Karpov (1898-1917 (?)), in others a to name unknown maker, so...? I believe in the latter alternative. The last mark reads SPBURG. This an interesting mark because it is also unclear is it a retailer's mark whose name happens to be be S. P. Burg or an uncommon town marks for St. Petersburg.
This is a tricky case.

[AG2012]

Hi,
Under high magnification there seems to be a dot after C.No dot after П.
С.ПБУРГЬ

Meaning,it was simply an unoficial mark used for commercial reasons to indicate silver was made in the capital and not in the middle of nowhere.Small Greek alpha was obviously not enough to protect highly reputable silversmiths community in the capital.
Regards

[Qrt.S]

As said this is a mysterious mark. There are no documents known that would confirm that this С.ПБУРГЪ/С.П.БУРГЪ/ С.П:БУРГЪ (note the known different spellings) would be a town mark punched by the assaying office. Not either are documents known found showing that it would be a wholesale/retail mark punched by the maker or retailer etc... The mark is rather often seen in connection with a very well known maker i.e. Yegor Pankratyev’s mark ЕП in St. Petersburg.

For what purpose would the St. Petersburg assaying office punch such an unofficial town mark when the town is clearly identified in the kokshnik with α? This undoubtedly leads to the conclusion that is a “logo”, but then again there is no known maker or workshop that would have used this mark. I don’t know what is the truth...yet! But one shouldn’t drop into hasty conclusions until evidence are presented. As for now is everything based on assumptions only.

Yes, the mark is shown in Ivanov, Postnikova and Bäcksbacka etc..., but that doesn't proof anything.
If somebody have more information regarding this mark, I would be happy to see it.
Thank you in advance.

[cww1960]

I must get a new pair of glasses, it looked like the odessa to me, either that or a new magnifing loop.


What I neglected to mention is that this one of six teapoons