www.925-1000.com

Hello,

I was lucky enough to acquire this beautiful gold over silver cross pendant which has Faberge marks on it, and I'm wondering if anyone can help me learn more about it. I have limited knowledge of Faberge, and I'm aware that copies and fakes were notoriously made, so how does everything look for this piece? Is it legitimate?

I did some research, and I could only find two other crosses like this....so there's quite a disparity, and I'm guessing one or both are copies? Mine is exactly the same as the Ahlers cross, except mine has an 88 silver punch with the initials "AH" and the Ahlers cross has an 84 silver punch with the initials "AT." The other cross I saw had different gemstones instead of rubies and didn't look as nice in my opinion, plus there was no pictures of the back.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the "AH" master's mark on my cross stands for August Wilhelm Holmstrom (1829-1903) who was a Swedish/Finnish workmaster, who was appointed chief jeweler by Gustav Fabergé in 1857. Do these hallmarks look correct for him? Since the Ahlers cross had a different master mark, would two Faberge master silversmiths be making the same pieces? Maybe multiples were commissioned to give as gifts to certain people?

For future reference, what else would you look for to determine if a Faberge mark is legit? I've read that the forgers or copies only had certain punches to work with, so some may be mismatched and that's a good way to tell. What else?

It's a really impressive piece of jewelry, so I would not be surprised if it was authentic, and I'm obviously hoping it is but I know better to get my hopes up right away. Thank you all for your help.

(admin edit - see Posting Requirements )

Eric

Here are some pictures of the Ahlers & Ogletree cross that sold in 2015:

Mind my saying but why a fake is a fake is agreed not to be explained here because also fakers read these sites. Anyway a short notice, August Holmström died 1903. This right looking kokshnik was implemented 26.3.1908, so.....Moreover, August Holmström was a Finn not a Swede, born in Helsinki 2.10.1829, grandfather to Alma Phil.

To me the marks at your cross look spurious. The kokoshnik doesn't look right. Let us wait for further reactions.

Peter.

I know almost nothing about Russian hallmarks so I can't comment on this.
Instead, I suggest another path.
Look carefully at the hands, feet and face of Christ and then ask yourself if that crucifix has the quality you expect from Fabergè's workshop.
Regards
Amena

Assay mark - sick fantasy! ))

Hello, thank you all for your replies and help.

Nice catch on the Kokoshnik QRT, that's exactly what I was interested in. Although, I'm curious if the Ahlers & Ogleetree hallmarks look more legit than mine? The pictures are in the second post. Can someone tell me if they were making copies of Faberge back in the early 1900's as well? Does that give it some collector value? Because otherwise, all the other Faberge copies would be truly worthless in my eyes if they were modern, besides the value of the precious metals and a little more than than, so I'm guessing it is the antique value and copies themselves are collected? Like I said, I know very little of Faberge, so I'm just trying to learn more. But I'd like to know if the hallmarks on that one are more convincing than mine.

I found even more crosses, some with an engraving on the back with the Russian words "Bless" and "Save" in Russian. So they made quite a few of them with different gemstones.

(admin edit - see Posting Requirements )

Just a short notice. If a "copy" carries a FABERGE punch it is a fake not a copy. Moreover, Fabergé's factory didn't make religious objects[/b] (or very, very few). This is the answer to your second question. All in all, The market is not flooding with genuine Fabergé made objects, but it is flooding with fakes. If a "copy" carries a Fabergé punch, it is of none value. Well, if it is in e.g. gold/silver... it has the scrap value :-))))))
There is a lot of literature about Fabergé, study and read those as a start.

Tipton444,
all of the crosses you showed have fake marks. The first cross does not stand out from the others

::::: I was thinking the same thing, even the one that "sold" has something not quite right about the hallmarks :::::: Auction houses usually do the best they can but even they get it wrong sometimes and they should have a legal clause that the object is evaluated to the best of their knowledge but there are no 100% guarantees about authenticity. :::::::::::