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Hello! I hope you can help me find out something more about the bracelet I found in my late relative's house in Latvia.
It is a gold bangle bracelet with an amethyst (or maybe glass?). The quality of the clasp is superb - you can't even notice the hinge when the bracelet is closed.
The gold mark is 56 zolotnik with a city mark. Is the city mark that of St.Petersburg? It looks similar in shape, but looks thicker.
There'r also a maker's mark which says "AW". I've found a couple of Russian makers with "AW" mark, but none of them looks exactly like this one. Can you, please help me identify the maker?
I'd appreciate any info you could give me! Thank you!

Hi,
August Wendt, St Petersburg
Mentioned in 1874 to have brought gold and silver to assay office.
56 stands for 14 K or 583 gold.
Regards

Take care with cleaning or repairing it.Russian silversmiths often used rose i.e. pink gold (cannot tell from pictures) or whatever colour of gold in 14K then plated it with 24K gold (mercury gold plating).As the layer of pure gold gets worn the copper in 14K alloy tends to tarnish and if cleaned never use any abrasive.
I would suggest soap and warm water.
Btw. it is amethyst, why would he set glass imitation in gold ? After all, amethysts are not as precious as diamonds or emeralds.And synthetic stones were invented decades later in 20th century.
Regards

Thank you very much!
I used two books about Russian gold and silversmiths to find out something about the bracelet, but found conflicting information on August Wendt:
This is what I found in Zolotoe i serebrianoe delo XV-XX vv : territoriia SSSR / M.M. Postnikova-Loseva, N.G. Platonova, B.L. Ulianova. and the mark looked similar indeed

But in Gold and Silversmith in Russia (1600 - 1926) it is said that his mark was AB:

Could he used two different marks?

Thank you for the advice on cleaning!

Hello again,
In regard of marks, many silversmiths from the West or born elsewhere and working in Russia used initials in both Cyrillic and Latin alphabet.
Many of them were Germans and Jews, and some of the best Russian silversmiths were actually Finns.
I think the maker of your bangle is identified.
regards

Amethyst is the purple color of quartz, while quartz is the colorless and sometimes transparent white, similar to glass ::: Not all amethyst is as deep dark purple as we expect it to be, often it occurs in a pale purple form which can blend into the clear colorless form of quartz, so sometimes it can be misinterpreted to be colored glass :: It is amethyst, just not the dark purple which has taken over the modern market, most of those deep dark purple deposits were discovered in Brazil and there was so much of the material such that it took over the amethyst gemstone market :