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Hello, happy new year all. The end of last year was happy for me as was able to get this small fiddle pattern condiment spoon for a little bit of research. It has a typical set of Russian marks on it and the 1848 under the Assay Master's mark gives the easy bit a date of its assay.



The assay master's mark looks like "A.T" using the Roman/Latin alphabet but it is of the Cyrillic alphabet and is "д.T" where the "д.T" equals "D.T". This is Dmitriì Ilbich Tverskoy (Dmitriì Ilbich Tverskoì) (Dimitry Ilyich Tverskoi). He was a St Petersburg Master and the pictorial mark on this spoon is likely the anchor, grapnel and mace intertwined mark of St Petersburg. There are extensive posts in our Forum relating to the variously spelt "Dimitry Ilyich Tverskoy". What I did not find on the Forum is reference to the maker mark that I am settling on as being "F.WST". I was convniced of that when I saw on line, silver from St Petersburg, dated 1846, "mastered" by "Tverskoy" and with a much less worn "F.WST" maker's mark. That mark was attributed to a "O.F.Wennestrom". Does the Forum know "O.F.Wennestrom"? Could it have been a family concern with an "F.WenneSTrom"?
There are very few online references to "O.F.Wennestrom" but this is a recent auction item attributed to him. A circular 5cm diameter box. The mark is not good but there is a ".WS". I assume this item would be much later in date than my spoon?



I note from online that around the Baltic Sea area there are other very closely stemmed surnames. Could there have been a corruption or in correct translation of the surname in the records?
Is the style of my spoon as you would expect for a mid 19th century Russian or Baltic region condiment spoon? It does not look much different from a "run of the mill" British spoon.

Fishless

Hi Fishless,

Probably not the most accurate of references, but 'Russian Silversmiths' Hallmarks - 1700-1917' by Geoffrey Watts, has that mark attributed to Olaf Wennerstrom of St. Petersburg, working 1830 - 1854.

Trev.

Happy New Year everybody

Yes, it is Wennerström, actually Olof not OlAf. He was born 1796 in St. Petersburg, became apprentice 1817 and master 1830. His punches were FWST and FW. However, it seems to that also F.WST!

The mark WS has nothing to do with Wennerstöm. To my understanding these initials it belongs to Friedrich Wilhelm Sengbusch also active in StP 1841 to about 1856.

Yes ДТ (Latin DT) belongs to Dmitri Ilitj Tverskoy. He was an assayer in st. Petersburg 1837-1851, an official guaranteeing the fineness only, nothing else. Unfortunately there is often seen a common misunderstanding in this and other forums too that the assayer had something to do with the manufacturing of an object. That is NOT the case. The assayers job was to guarantee the minimum legal fineness. His punch guarantees it and as said nothing else!

If you find a "Russian" object with an assayers punch only, it is imported goods without any exception! This has been discussed here many times earlier.

My apologies to Mr. Watts, he does indeed state 'OLOF', not 'OLAF'.

Trev.

Thank you Dognose and Qrt.S for clarifying my research. There is always a chance of mis-spelt "older" silversmiths names and no doubt it is a magnified chance when different nations are concerned. Good on you "Olof Wennerstöm" for making my condiment spoon and good on the Forum for giving other researchers the link to the "F.WST" mark. You did not make any comment on the style of spoon for me (sorry I'm greedy). Was it as you would have expected of a Russian spoon in that mid 19th century period?

Fishless

Firstly, you are not giving any measure!!! Secondly, I don't believe it is a condiment spoon but a scoop, anticipating it has the measures for a scoop (30-40 cm of total length and bowl's Ø ~10cm). However, if it is smaller (10-12cm of total length) then you could call it condiment spoon. The round bowl is also rather typical for Russia. The model or style is an old traditional model. Unfortunately I don't know its name in English but we call it "Helsinki". There is a number of variants regarding this very common "model".

Thank you Qrt.S for your added information. The spoon is only 9cms long so definitely a condiment type spoon. It was an oversight by me not furnishing the length of the spoon before. This is the 1st Russian spoon I have owned and only the 2nd one I have had a prolonged look at.

Fishless