www.925-1000.com

I have this rather nicely decorated Persian box, fairly typical of the genre, which I think may be a cigarette box made around 1950/1960. One of its marks is '84' and I'm aware that there is some discussion as to whether this represents a purity of 84 Zolotniks, or 84%. However, my question is whether anyone can translate the other marks which I can't read. Hopefully these will also confirm which city it was made in, which by default I would think is Isfahan.

I'm grateful for any input from the forum.

Best regards,

Silverk.

Hello SilverK

Above the 84 it looks like سرآکيان Sirakian. This is a family name. I am not 100% sure on this point but it is definitely a name which ends in "rakian" I don't understand the word beside ۷۴ in the other stamp

In any event, neither say Isfahan - although that does not mean the object was not made there.

Hope this helps a bit and that someone with a good command of Persian can comment.

Damon

Hi Daman,

Thank you very much for that input. I'm impressed that you managed to match the Persian characters! That moves me forward, though I can't find any relevant reference to Sirakian as yet. As you say, needs someone with a good command of Persian.

Best regards,

Silverk.

Hello again

Upon closer examination the name could be سراگيان or Seragian (the K and G letters in Persian are quite similar)

Also have found the other word - جهرمی or Jahrami (or Jahromi)

See the last image at the bottom of this National Museum of Scotland link

https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-colle ... ollection/

One UK auction house which has sold quite a bit of Persian silver reports that Jahrami was a retailer but I have found nothing which confirms that. Another auction house reports that Jahrami was a silversmith

Hope this helps in your research

Damon

Hi Damon,

Thanks very much for your follow-up. I've used your input to try to find additional information and have come up with nothing that adds much to what you have identified already. Perhaps the only thing that might be suggestive is that Jahrami is often associated with Parvaresh and he seems to be associated with Isfahan. Thus if Jahrami is indeed a retailer, he may have been selling out of Isfahan. This accords with what I've read which indicates that the stylized flower decoration on this box is typical of Isfahan output of the mid 20th century. So far, I have found nothing about the silversmith Seragian, or indeed anything about the few other Persian silversmiths mentioned on-line. It seems to be a very poorly researched subject.

Thanks so much for your help, I would never have got this far without it.

Best regards,

Silverk.