Pre Soviet imperial brass tray, tsarist/samovar

Hello all, I'm Tammie, new here I got this tray today at an estate sale in northern California and I'm trying to learn everything I can about it before trying to sell it. From what I understand, what I gathered from Google and chat GPT,
This is an authentic Imperial Russian hammered brass samovar tray, produced in Moscow between 1890 and 1905. It carries the pre-Revolution hallmark:
ФАБРИКА МОСКВЫ
(“Factory of Moscow”)
…and features the double-headed Romanov eagle, emblem of Tsarist Russia prior to 1917.
The tray is completely handmade with a hammered surface, hand-filed handles, and original copper rivets. These trays were traditionally used under samovars as part of Russian tea service.
Details
Authentic Imperial Russian artifact
Brass, hand-hammered
Moscow factory hallmark
Double-headed eagle stamp
Copper riveted handles
Original patina, unpolished
Circa 1890–1905

Does all this the correct? Is there any other deals anybody can give me? Lately I have been on a mission of collecting antiques and this is by far my coolest find.

 

Nice find.....

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just FYI...... chat gpt..... not always reliable ...

the tray may be genuine..... but not an artifact per say..... unless you have the full set it came with... as that region produced countless Samovar sets of varying quality and worth !

 

Hi Tammie. As komo said, a samovar tray is not a complete set, and countless sets were made.
It is better to have a samovar without a tray, than vice versa. So if you want to sell it, you may not get more for it than you would for any other vintage brass tray.

Imperial means made for the Imperial household, which this wasn't.
The stamp is not of the double-headed eagle, but it looks to me to be the Moscow coat of arms:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Moscow

The coat of arms is part of the maker's mark, and a Moscow coat of arms makes sense for a Moscow factory.

The brass handles are not hand-filed, simply cast, which is often the case. They are indeed copper riveted.
I see no evidence of the tray itself being hammered brass, it looks machine stamped, which I would expect of a factory-made tray. Maybe more pictures will show that it is hand-hammered.

I don't see a hallmark, only the manufacturer's mark, as above. Hallmarks are punched by an assay office or other government office.
As for the date of operation of the Moscow (samovar?) Factory, maybe one of our Russian-speaking members can help us.

 

AJ has pretty much nailed it. However, there does appear to be some minimal hammering. The tray form was probably pressed and the hammering was done with a machine, as the operator moves the tray to position the hammer marks. I don't see any benefit to marketing this as a samovar tray, as you don't have the samovar. Let the buyer decide what kind of tray it is and how they want to use it.

Pre-revolution Russian metalwork does have a following. However, the emphasis is usually on copper rather than brass. Arts and crafts buyers are interested in finely hammered copper pieces from the period.

 

It seems it was ChatGPT that called it pre-Soviet Imperial Russian, possibly based on a wrong identification of the stamp. We don't know if the period is correct, and Samovars are made to this day.