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Moscow 1893 MG

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2024 1:08 pm
by meyrink
Hey.

I would like to ask for help in identifying these marks.

Thanks, meyrink

Image

Re: Moscow 1893 MG

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 4:18 am
by Qrt.S
MC is the widow Maria Ivanova Sokolova in Moscow 1886-1908 who according to the law inherited the workshop after the death of her husband master Mihail Fjodorovitsch Sokolov (1860-1890). Actually Maria only managed the workshop she was NOT the goldsmith who made the object in question. Likely it was made in the workshop by some journeyman working there. Journeymen had not a punch of they own. They got one after they got their master certificate by the guild.
AA is the assayer Anatolij Artsibaschev in Moscow 1888-1898.

MC in an over stamp of another punch with a name. Unfortunately very difficult to see what it reads.

Re: Moscow 1893 MG

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 4:31 am
by meyrink
Thank you Qrt.S. For me the mark is clear MG, not MC. If the stamp MG is over the other stamp, does it mean, that the MG was retailer?

Re: Moscow 1893 MG

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 7:41 am
by Qrt.S
You are welcome. But no, it is not a Latin G but a Cyrillic C. There were very few master in Moscow if any at that time using Latin letters in their punches. Anyway, I found one, but active 1777- ? and in St. Petersburg none in Moscow whatsoever, so.... As said, it is an a bit smudgy and not a "clear" Cyrillic C (Latin S). Can you figure out what the letters are or the name in the over stamped punch?

The over stamping is "interesting". Sometimes retailers over stamped or demanded that the manufacturer/provider/foreign exporter should not punch his mark. I such cases the retailer/importer often punched his own mark on the object. That mark, however, was usually a company's logo. In Russia it was forbidden to sell unmarked silver objects or objects with deficient markings. As an example: Briefly: The famous "Fabergé" punch is actually a "logo", because Fabergé didn't allow the makers to punch their marks except for a few exceptions, but that is another and a long long story. Moreover, Carl Fabergé was a goldsmith and this "logo" was also his punch. However, there is not a single object known to have been made by himself.