Featured Older Silverplate ... glass holders?

What is the name for this kind of thing? Guessing maybe they originally had a glass insert? They were .25 at a sale and could not pass them up!

I love the design on the first one. Any ideas on maker?

Second one seems to maybe not silverplate, but just some kind of base metal. I think the mark might be Russian on number two. Interesting design... open to suggestions. Russia launching space probes??



And the 2nd one:

 

Just occurred to me both have "the world" as part of the design. Could these be World's Fair items?

 

Russian tea glass holders. Sputnik.

 

Bingo! Thank you, Kronos.

I'm see similar on Ebay with those keywords.

 

Ooh. I covet those.

 

a comet...& the CCCP's quest for space dominance !!
Both rich in symbolism & history !!
& yes...for a tall glass of tea !

 

Pretty! A spirited discussion concerning both of the marks occurs on the following page, starting a little over halfway down. The marks are both in Cyrillic characters.

http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20870

The first one at least is not silverplate, according to this. It is some sort of alloy. Apparently there is a difference of opinion in that discussion on the composition. And there is some indication in the discussion that yhe second mark indicates a similar metal.

 

Hi Fig,

Scanned the discussion, interesting!

And there is some indication in the discussion that the second mark indicates a similar metal.

For the ones I have, they are two different metals for sure. Maybe different examples with those marks had different materials coming out of Russia? Not sure. The 2nd one is some base-like metal. 100% uniform in color, no tarnish, a bit lighter in weight.

Based on the discussion linked, took another look at the first one I posted here. I cannot imagine it is anything other than silver plate. It looks like it in the hand, has tarnish marks like it, and when I took a Sunshine cloth to a spot of tarnish it polished up to a mirror silver shine.

Probably doesn't matter for value one way or the other, but interesting to read the difference of opinion. I can only think maybe different metals were used in examples, but they kept the marks possibly?

Thanks!

 

I've got a set like your second one. They've been packed away for years, but I'll see if I can track them down so we can compare them. Pretty sure they have the same marks on them though. If memory serves correctly, they did have an "odd" feel to the metal. Never did bother to find out what they were made of, but this is as good a time as any!

 

Lucille, if you're selling those, I'm definitely interested.

 

The poster who believes it's some kind of so far unsubstantiated 'jeweler's metal' is very knowledgeable on old Russian silver, but is like a dog with a bone on this Soviet mark, there's been several posts concerning it (the supposed percentage of silver also varies when he mentions it) - items bearing the marks can be found in original boxes indicating the maker as 'Mstera Jewellers' and sometimes mentioning 'melchior'.

Your first piece, with the 'ЮМ0МЕТ' mark was made by 'Mstera Jewellers', and would be silverplated base metal, usually cupronickel or nickel silver (both sometimes called 'Melchior'), the '0' between the 'ЮМ' and 'МЕТ' indicates it was made in 1960, with the '1ϹОРТ' indicating 'first grade/quality'. The second piece, made by 'Kolchuginsky Melchior' is nickel silver (МНЦ = Медь/copper - Никель/nickel - Цинк/zinc), the other marks indicate the price in rubles and kopeks.

Believe both factories are still in business...

~Cheryl

 

I was hoping that you would see this, Cheryl. I was confused about it, which is why I just posted the link with comments.

 

Thanks for getting Cheryl in on the discussion! Cheryl, your knowledge amazes me. Thank you both!

 

Wonderful info! Thank you so much.

 

I've listed these. Item #
302904938436

@Ownedbybear

 

You should mention Tea Glass Holder in your title. Second category of Collectibles>Cultures & Ethnicities>Russian might not hurt either.

 

Got it. Thank you!

 

When you make trade with no silver items, a cheap control when it's nickel based can be make like for silver.