875 Silver and Enamel Fork

[grace5049]

Hi again,

Curious if anyone can help me out with the following fork. I know this is the hammer and sickle mark. The other mark appears to be Л, possibly for Leningrad? I'm guessing the other mark of "ЗЛЮ" is the maker's mark? Any help is appreciated.




Thanks as always!

Grace

[Qrt.S]

Your fork is rather common and made in the Soviet Union in 1973 in a factory called Производственно техническое обеъдинение "Русские Самоцветы" Ленинград- (ЗЛЮ Latin ZLYu)Transliterated it would be something like Technical production association "Russian Gems" Leningrad. Your assumption that the Л in the hallmark would indicate Leningrad is correct. These forks were often bought by tourists.

[AG2012]

Hi,
Clarification needed, please.
I don`t have ЗЛЮ (letter Z), but ЛЮ for Leningrad jewelry and watch factory ( Ленинградская ювелирно-часовая фабрика – ЛЮ) with number 3 in front (3ЛЮ). Looks the same but fonts for ``З`` and `` ЛЮ`` are different (ЛЮ much smaller).
Year 1969 was the first year in front of factory name (9 ЛЮ), 1970 was 1 ЛЮ and 1972 3 ЛЮ.
Moreover, there is no letter ``З`` in "Русские Самоцветы".
Thanks for kind attention.
Regards

[Qrt.S]

No there is actually no letter 3 (Z) but there is number 3 .This mark "3" causes sometimes difficulties. Is it number 3 or the letter Z? It is number 3 for 1973 not З for ЗАВОД (my fault). Anyway, it doesn't change anything in what I wrote. The source is Troepolskaja's СПРАВОЧНИК #15890.

The company you mentioned, Ленинградская ювелирно-часовая фабрика – ЛЮ followed with a figure ceased to exist in 1968. On the spoon the figure is in front of ЛЮ. However, it is probably the same company continuing under a new name. Please also take a look in Postnikova #5241 and compare it with #4352-4366.

Nonetheless, this is how it goes:

9ЛЮ is 1969 Ювелирная фабрика г. Ленинград
0ЛЮ is 1970 Завод "Русские cамоцветы" производсто N 1, г. Ленинград
1ЛЮ is 1971 Ювелирный завод "Русские cамоцветы" г. Ленинград
2ЛЮ is 1972 Объединение "Русские cамоцветы" г. Ленинград
ЗЛЮ is 1973 Производственно техническое обеъдинение "Русские Самоцветы"б г. Ленинград
4ЛЮ is 1974 Завод "Русские cамоцветы", г. Ленинград
5ЛЮ is 1975 Объединение "Русские cамоцветы" г. Ленинград
6ЛЮ is 1976 Объединение "Русские cамоцветы" г. Ленинград
7ЛЮ is 1977 Объединение "Русские cамоцветы" г. Ленинград

The first figure indicates always the year. There is no factory whatsoever starting with number 8 in the whole country. It jumps from 7 directly to 9. Number 8 is again used with a dot in front (.8) indicating 1988 and ten years later with colon in front (:8) indicating 1998. But this is another story.

[AG2012]

Thank you.
Regards

[Qrt.S]

You are welcome, however, I must correct two things. It is unbelievable but even if check, reread and recheck still something goes wrong. We are talking about a fork not a spoon and the name of the factory is:

ЗЛЮ is 1973 Производственно техническое обеъдинение "Русские Самоцветы" г. Ленинград

sorry about that, hopefully everything is now in order. Please feel free to ask more questions if needed.
Have a nice weekend
Qrt.S