Russian Gold and Silver Details

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Special Correspondents at the Czar's Coronation are to be provided with a silver badge bearing either two pens or a pen and pencil entwined, and the word "correspondent" in French and Russian. An office will be established at Moscow by the Government to give all necessary information to home and foreign journalists.

Source: The Aberdare Times - 28th April 1883

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JEWELLERS DEFRAUDED

HAUL BY SUPPOSED BRITISHER

An amazing coup at the expense of several of the leading Jewellery firms in St. Petersburg has so far baffled the Russian police (said the St. Petersburg correspondent of the "Daily News" on September 8). A British subject, as It subsequently proved from his passport, who had been spending a few days at a leading hotel here, settled his bill, and had his things prepared for removal. He then remarked that he had still an
hour before train time, and set out for an automobile run in the city.

He went direct to Messrs. Faberge, Jewellers to the Imperial Court, where he asked to see some diamond necklaces, saying that he wished to send a present abroad to his wife. He had with him an Interpreter from the hotel, as on all his previous sight-seeings, for he said he spoke only English. He bought a necklace for twelve thousand roubles, and paid for It with two cheques— one on a Chicago and the other on a London bank. The cheques wore examined and accepted.

He then went to another fashionable jeweller, and bought rings and jewels for over 20,000 roubles, for which he also paid in cheques. He repeated the operation at a third and a fourth establishment, and returned to the hotel with jewellery worth over 100,000 roubles. He immediately set out for the railway station, after tipping the hotel attendants handsomely, and, departed abroad via Finland. Next morning, when the cheques were taken to various banks, they were rejected by ail except one bank, which paid on two of them. It now proves that they were all forgeries.

From the copy of the passport taken at the hotel the visitor's name appears as George Morgan, a British subject, although the passport was taken out at Washington, The hotel staff describe him us a tall gentleman of good appearance, with dark moustache, and wearing eye-glasses. He seemed to be about 45 years old. During his stay he gave the Impression of a wealthy tourist, of whom there are many at present here and In Moscow.

The police on the Continent and in England have been communicated with, but so far there is no trace of where he has gone beyond. that he had time to leave Russian territory before the cheques were taken to the bank.

Source: The Herald - 28th October 1912

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GEORGE DELAVIGNE

Moscow


Last Thursday J. H. Venon received a cablegram from Moscow, Russia, announcing the tragic deaths of Henri Delavigne and his father, George
Delavigne, a prominent jeweler of Moscow, both assassinated at Baku, the oil city of Southern Russia. Henri Delavigne, who spent a year at the office of J. H. Venon learning the English language and American business methods, and had recently returned to Russia to establish a business there, was a very accomplished young man of 24, speaking French, German, English and Russian fluently. He will be remembered by the trade, having accompanied Mr. Venon in his travels in this country, and made a fine impression by his good manners and amiable disposition. His sad fate shows what traveling in Russia means, as he actually died in defending his property from bandits who attacked his father and himself.

Source: Crockery & Glass Journal - 27th April 1911

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The death sentences meted out by the Soviet court to Kleiner and Taitz, two jewelers convicted of smuggling activities, were carried out by a Soviet firing squad on October 26. Immediately after the court had made known its decision in their case, the condemned men tried to win mercy from the highest authority in Russia, but the All-Union Central Executive Council of Soviets rejected their joint application for the mollification of their sentences.

Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 21st November 1929

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Secret police at Moscow, Russia, recently discovered 60 pounds of gold and silver coins of the Czarist period and a large quantity of jeweled church ornaments in a pig sty. Authorities said the articles were seized when the Government ordered confiscation of valuable church properties. A pastor had entrusted them to the peasant, who faces a long prison term.

Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 5th December 1929

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Russian workers continue to contribute the few pieces of their modest jewelry to the so-called Golden Fund of Industrialization . Thus , the workers of Ribinsk , following the example of the Baku oil-field laborers and of the Gomel hospital-employees, have given over their golden earrings, wedding rings , and other personal jewelry to the authorities to be used for the industrial and socialistic development of the country, at the same time appealing to the rest of Soviet labor to do likewise.

Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 30th January 1930

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It seems unbelievable that a metal of the value of platinum of which the most expensive and choicest jewelry is made and which at the present time is the most popular material for wedding and engagement rings, should a few years ago have been employed in the composition of the most ordinary household articles.

When a deposit of platinum was discovered in the Ural mountains in Russia about 50 years ago, the Russia government mined it and attempted the use of it in Russian coins. But it met with little enthusiasm and the coins at last were discarded. The deposits were so extensive that the material was very cheap. Manufacturers used it for purposes little better than those of tin. Cooking utensils of platinum, platinum umbrella handles, even platinum buttons on policeman's coat fronts were common in that country.

A few years later, when the supply of platinum was almost exhausted, its use as a material for jewelry-making was begun. The material was so hard to find that it was, of course, very expensive. A wholesale jeweler in this country decided to send buyers to Russia to purchase quantities of the articles for which platinum had been used. The men sent out were unsuccessful, for the Germans had been there first and bought up every available bit of platinum, and as one man wrote back “There is not even a platinum stovepipe left.”

Source: The Metal Industry - April 1924

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The St. Petersburg papers report a great development of the gold production of Russia. Strata containing gold in considerable quantity have recently been discovered in the Ural Mountains. It is said that in the district of Sennigsei, a Russian proprietor has found in his gold mine, near Motygyme, a nugget 445 lb. in weight, representing a value of nearly £15,000.

Source: The Watchmaker, Jeweller and Silversmith - 6th October 1879

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The latest Soviet regulations and border practices seem to indicate no jewelry can be taken along by persons leaving the Soviet Union. A traveler can take with him or her no more than one wedding ring. No further exceptions or privileges are granted to anyone.

Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 26th December 1929

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Secret vaults with much ecclesiastical jewelry were discovered by the local Soviet authorities of Tambov (central Russia), when the Pitirim Cathedral was being given over to workers' organizations and made into a club-house. The authorities were searching for this jewelry ever since 1918. The State treasury is the beneficiary of the find.

Source: The Jewelers' Circular - 26th December 1929

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