Featured Please help me identify this antique Russian maker's mark!

Hi there!

I posted a few photos to reference where it's located on this picture frame.

Anyways, this was found in a storage unit that I got at an auction recently. I've figured out the other marks but for the life of me can't decipher this maker's mark at all!

It's a beautiful enameled 14k gold picture frame..., would love to know the maker's mark if possible.

Hopefully someone on here can help me figure this out! Many thanks in advance

 

very nice..

 

How old is that mark? It's pre-kolishnik for sure. We'll need one of the Euopean joolies to even have a prayer.

 

It is a beauty, mefy. Enamel in perfect condition too.
Can't help with the maker's mark though.

1908-1917 imo.

 

Welcome to the forum, @mefy The best antiques/collectables/treasures/whodunnit group you'll ever find!

Linda

 

Thank you all! It's definitely Romanovi / pre-Bolshevik revolution, I think on another forum someone told me one of the marks meant that it was made in 1906 or 1908 or something?

Not being able to figure out the maker's mark is driving me nuts though haha...

Appreciate all the replies.

 

Well, that is all kinds of lovely!

 

The "kokoshnik 56" hallmark with an alpha sign (for Saint Petersburg hallmark department) was used starting from 1908 and up to 1927, so your frame was made in this time period.
I can't clearly read the makers mark, is it OL?
However, I noticed there are some other hallmarks, could you make a close up photos of them, maybe it would help.

 

I think I was wrong, after a closer look the maker's mark looks like ОИ/ОН, or ОК? I think if you try to polish it a little bit, it might become more readable and help to identify second letter.

 

Yeah, i'd say it looks like ОИ/ОН, or ОК. Are there any known maker's marks for any of these three possible marks around the same time period in Russia?

Also for the marks on the frame stand that you circled, those are Polish markings and my guess is that this stand / legs for the picture frame was added and/or repaired after the fact in Poland?

While I don't think it will help to figure out the Russian marker's mark in question, here's a photo of those marks that you circled:

 

It may have been sold in Poland. It couldn't be sold without being assayed, hence the marks.
I have a Chinese filigree bracelet with Polish marks.

 

The Polish marks could be for import goods.
If it is OK maker's mark, then one of the known was Orest Kurliykov (Орест Курлюковъ), however he was working more with silver (I have attached an article about him).
It is tricky with maker's marks, there could be several makers with identical initials in the different parts of the empire and sometimes the only difference could be a dot between letters, or a shape of the frame around mark. So to identify the maker you should look at it in a complex: initials, period of production, style, materials and techniques.
I have found like 3-4 different makers for OK combination only, and it would be the same for OИ & ОН.
It can be also an ОМ. And if we assume that O is not an o, but C, or D (cause they used both Cyrillic and Latin letters for maker's marks) then amount of potential makers raises.
I have attached a catalog of the Russian marks for silver and gold of 15th to 20th century, but it is not complete.
Since a gold mark is associated with Saint-Petersburg and then maybe exported to Poland, I would probably try to search which Petersburg & Polish jeweller companies were allowed to sell/buy between each other.

https://lermontovgallery.ru/spravochnik-antikvariata/proizvodstvo-o-f-kurlyukova/

https://kleima.ru/katalog-klejm-zolotyx-i-serebryanyx-izdelij-carskoj-rosii-xv-xxvv/

 

wow, thank you! I am overwhelmed and don't even know where to start. I feel so lost trying to figure out this maker's mark haha.

I guess it's safe to at least assume that it's not from a Faberge workmaster, right?

 

Right.

 

but still, it reeks of high Quality !!!

 

Right, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't have any value. It is gold, guilloche, very nice design - I think a lot of collectors of Russian Imperial Jewellery and/or arts would be happy to get it in their collection.

 

I'm a very big fan of Faberge, but it's not the be all and end all.