www.925-1000.com

Have managed to acquire this Icon, I believe that the maker is Alekseì V. Stepanov, St Peterburg 1890, the the assay master being Aleksandr Timofeyevich Shevyakov, my only query is that from my records this is not in his date range of assaying, however I have found that the (in my pubilcations) records of assayers dates of operation aren't always accurate, and I have found other items assayed by him with other dates not in the published range.

What do you think?

Sorry dimensions are 88mm x 71mm

Sometimes different sources give different information depending on where from the author has got the info. Unfortunately there are good books and poor books. What is your source for both assayer and maker? I'm asking this because Stepanov didn't work in St. Petersburg but in Moscow, so? Anyway, Aleksandr Timofeyevich Shevyakov assayed in St. Petersburg 1890-1896 possibly to 1913 but he never worked in Moscow. There is a mismatch in your text. Unfortunately AC in St. Petersburg is unknown to me. Could not find any suitable name in St. P

cww1960 wrote:Have managed to acquire this Icon, I believe that the maker is Alekseì V. Stepanov, St Peterburg 1890, the the assay master being Aleksandr Timofeyevich Shevyakov, my only query is that from my records this is not in his date range of assaying, however I have found that the (in my pubilcations) records of assayers dates of operation aren't always accurate, and I have found other items assayed by him with other dates not in the published range.

What do you think?

Hi, cww1960!

I 'm sorry. You were deceived. You bought a fake Icon. These false Icons are often case on market. These hallmarks is fake. These icons are made somewhere in the baltic countries.

When I first saw this Icon I did not think it was real, sadly not because I knew enough about the silver work, but more because of the quality of the painting, it looked very amateurish, however for what I paid for it not a great loss.

Here's a question, once a piece has been identified as a fake what would everyone do, I know that for me this Icon will be destroyed so no-one else can get caught out and spend there well earned money.

Two pictures for illustration: