About 333 rare historical objects were discovered lately by an accident in a mass of old silver that was ready to be melted into bullion in the Moscow factory of the Soviet Treasury Department. Among other valuable pieces, a big silver cross was found, dating back to 1662, when it was presented by a Vologda merchant to the St. Vladimir Church; also silver frames of the ikons of the 17th and 18th centuries; an ancient silver cover for the Hebrew Torah (a book of sacred learning); old spoons set with pearls; a silver rolling-pin of the 18th century, apparently used in making sacred bread of the Greek-Orthodox church; wedding crowns of pure silver, also of the 18th century; silver goblets, silver plates, etc. The aggregate weight of the rescued objects exceeds 215 pounds. All of the 333 pieces will he transferred to Moscow museums.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 2nd March 1927
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Russian Gold and Silver Details
Re: Russian Gold and Silver Details
From the Fourteenth Century Hall of the Moscow Historical Museum two rare pieces of ancient jewelry, a golden bracelet with carved ornaments and a golden pendant-ring, have been recently stolen. Over 1000 visitors had thronged the Museum on the day of theft, and there was only one watchman to the several halls, due to the recent cut, for reasons of economy, of the Museum force. The two stolen pieces of jewelry date back to the Golden Horde epoch and were found many years ago on the Kulikovo field, the place of a historical battle between the Russians and the Tartars. Both pieces are considered in Russia very valuable, yet the Museum has not even any photographs of the bracelet and the ring left in its files. The Moscow police are busy searching for the thieves and the jewelry. Substantial rewards are offered by the authorities for any information leading to recovery of the jewelry.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 17th January 1929
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Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 17th January 1929
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Re: Russian Gold and Silver Details
Russian silverware of latest Soviet make will be shown at the Russian Art and Handicraft Exhibition, which is scheduled to open in New York, at Grand Central Palace, on Feb. 1. The exhibition is being arranged by Amtorg, the Russian trade organization in America representing Soviet State commercial and industrial establishments.
Silverware made by Central Russian and Armenian craftsmen in the Russian 18th century style as well as in distinct Oriental style will be exhibited among other interesting specimens of Soviet silversmiths’ work. All of the objects to be exhibited, even those done in the 18th century style, were produced in the past year of 1928. Many of the objects come to America from an artel (a workmen’s association) now running the factory formerly belonging to Khlebnikoff, near Moscow. Over one thousand silversmiths and other jewelry workers compose the artel. Other objects were prepared by the Armenian masters using the well known black-and-white silver of Caucasus. Much of the silverware to be exhibited was prepared by the Soviet craftsmen especially for this American exhibition.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 17th January 1929
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Silverware made by Central Russian and Armenian craftsmen in the Russian 18th century style as well as in distinct Oriental style will be exhibited among other interesting specimens of Soviet silversmiths’ work. All of the objects to be exhibited, even those done in the 18th century style, were produced in the past year of 1928. Many of the objects come to America from an artel (a workmen’s association) now running the factory formerly belonging to Khlebnikoff, near Moscow. Over one thousand silversmiths and other jewelry workers compose the artel. Other objects were prepared by the Armenian masters using the well known black-and-white silver of Caucasus. Much of the silverware to be exhibited was prepared by the Soviet craftsmen especially for this American exhibition.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 17th January 1929
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Re: Russian Gold and Silver Details
Soviet Government Issues Order Prohibiting Exportation of Listed Objects of Art and Antiques
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 16.—The Russian Soviet Government has issued an order prohibiting the exportation of objects of art and antiques listed by the Main Customs Administration, according to a report received in the Department of Commerce from F. W. B. Coleman, American minister at Riga, Latvia.
The export embargo list includes articles of gold and silver, bronzes, numismatics, porcelains, crockery, crystal and glass, archaeological objects, ikons, gravures and art editions, hand-woven oriental rugs, and other works or objects of art of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries.
Foreign buyers must secure export permits for other articles either from the State art stores, or from the commissariats of trade and education in case they were purchased elsewhere, the report states. This regulation does not apply to the State Trading Bureau of the U. S. S. R. as it has been granted the exclusive right to export objects of art and antiques.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 21st March 1929
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WASHINGTON, D. C., March 16.—The Russian Soviet Government has issued an order prohibiting the exportation of objects of art and antiques listed by the Main Customs Administration, according to a report received in the Department of Commerce from F. W. B. Coleman, American minister at Riga, Latvia.
The export embargo list includes articles of gold and silver, bronzes, numismatics, porcelains, crockery, crystal and glass, archaeological objects, ikons, gravures and art editions, hand-woven oriental rugs, and other works or objects of art of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries.
Foreign buyers must secure export permits for other articles either from the State art stores, or from the commissariats of trade and education in case they were purchased elsewhere, the report states. This regulation does not apply to the State Trading Bureau of the U. S. S. R. as it has been granted the exclusive right to export objects of art and antiques.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 21st March 1929
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Re: Russian Gold and Silver Details
The creation of a Golden or Jewelry Fund is urged by certain groups of Russian workers for the better success of the five-year plan of Soviet industrialization and socialization of the country. The fund will be composed of voluntary contributions of their personal jewelry (such as watches of gold and silver, wedding and engagement rings, etc.), by Soviet citizens to the State, to be applied to the budget of the five-year plan. The first contributions were made by the oil-field workers of Baku, on the Caspian Sea shore, and by hospital workers of Bobruisk, West Russia. A nation-wide drive is now under way.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 26th December 1929
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Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 26th December 1929
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Re: Russian Gold and Silver Details
Various prison sentences have been meted out to several men and women, some of whom were related to Kleiner and Taitz, and all of whom were found guilty of participating in a smugglers’ ring formed by the two men. Kleiner and Taitz were sentenced to death by the same judges in a Moscow Court, as reported in The Jewelers’ Circular Oct. 3. Cecilia Kleiner was sentenced to three years of strict isolation in a prison and was bereft of her mother’s rights to her little girl who was taken into the State custody and sent to a Soviet Children’s Home. Eva Taitz was sentenced to six years of strict isolation in a prison. She was a sister-in-law of Samuel Taitz and the wife of David Taitz, a jeweler of Leningrad previously exiled by the Soviet government to the Ural mountains. Raskin, another jeweler, was sentenced to six years of strict isolation in a prison and subsequent exile for the period of five years. Tried on another similar charge a few months ago, he is also to serve a previous sentence of five years of strict isolation in a prison with a subsequent exile for five years.
During the trial, Samuel Taitz admitted that besides their practice of smuggling diamonds from Soviet Russia to Latvia and other foreign countries the members of his ring brought “falsified” platinum from Latvia to Russia, presumably to sell it to the Soviet government for the State-controlled exports. The ring had branches in many cities of Soviet Russia and Latvia, also in Shanghai, China; Nice, France; and in some American cities.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 24th October 1929
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During the trial, Samuel Taitz admitted that besides their practice of smuggling diamonds from Soviet Russia to Latvia and other foreign countries the members of his ring brought “falsified” platinum from Latvia to Russia, presumably to sell it to the Soviet government for the State-controlled exports. The ring had branches in many cities of Soviet Russia and Latvia, also in Shanghai, China; Nice, France; and in some American cities.
Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 24th October 1929
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