Posted 9 years ago
kiwipaul
(117 items)
I bought this gold bracelet at an antique fair on a gamble, I saw the 56 mark and knew that it was a Russian and Eastern European mark for 14k gold. The bracelet is simple yet stylish, and I was thinking Art Deco, maybe Austro-Hungarian.
The piece turned out to be Pre-Revolutionary Russian Art Nouveau.
Initally the marks baffled me, because they were like the Russian post 1908 St Petersburg 2nd Kokoshnik mark, but the number 4 didn't appear on the marks in any references I could find, however these were all for silverware rather than gold jewellery.
Finally an on-line forum cleared it up, the "4" is a weight mark for gold chains and bracelets denoting the weight in zolotniks (1 zolotnik is 4.26 grams).
The keyhole shaped mark has a prescribed size of 3.25 x 1.5 mm and contains a weight number from 1 to 11 dependent on the weight in zolotniks. The second mark is the right facing kokoshnik (woman in headress) of 1908-1927. The third is the fineness mark 56 zolotnik (14k approx). The last mark is Greek letter alpha for the St Petersburg assay office.
The makers mark "Ab" is Abraham Sholom Beilin, whose workshop was at Sadovaya Uliza 22, St Petersburg. Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm (a well known authority on Faberge) advises that Fabergé and many other companies ("... also my great grandfather and grandfather Alexander Tillander ...") turned for assistance to Abraham Beilin when they did not have the capacity to fulfill orders.
This was around the time I got my hardstone cameo of Alexander III, posted in an earlier listing, and as they say good things come in threes, because I picked up one more piece soon after, that may have an interesting Russian connection, I'll post that one soon.
Incredible! Without your description and the marks, I would have thought 1960/1970 design! It is so modernist!
Looking forward to admire your 3rd find :-)
Yes, it is very classic, could fall into any era. Interesting information on Faberge as well.
what a great find...again, how do you all do it???
Wow! I knew this had to be something when I saw the original jewelry box. And I learned something new...56 for 14k. Did not know that. Thank you!
By the way...It's awesome!
I do not believe this is by Abraham Beilin. The initials are in Cyrillic and belong to master jeweler Alexander Besfamilnyi.
Hi Mimi, thanks for your comment, do you have any further info on Alexander Besfamilnyi? The only reference I can find is a demantoid ring on eBay that says he is a Moscow maker.
This bracelet has the St Petersburg mark which makes me think it is Beilin who was active there. Here is a Sotheby's auction showing the Ab mark (second pic) they attribute to Beilin (mark in second pic): https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/russian-works-of-art-faberge-and-icons-l13116/lot.643.html
kiwipaul, the seller on eBay is the one who gave me the information about Besfamilnyi and his jewelry firm 1899. The ring he is selling has the same makers mark as the bracelet above and when I reached out to him about it possibly being a Beilin, he said no, no way.
Looking for an answer about Beilin’s mark is the reason I came to CW. I have a ring that I know is imperial Russian with the makers mark AB, which I thought was Beilin. Now I don’t know who it is.
Hi Mimi, as a starting point I would guess that Ab from St Petersburg is Abraham Beilin, while Ab from Moscow is not Beilin. Does your ring have a City mark? https://www.925-1000.com/Frussia_city_01.html
The ring is worn on the bottom, but I will try to describe it. It has the left facing kokoshnik with what appears to be AB or B.
As I understand it the left facing kokoshnik did not include the city mark so sounds like it may be difficult to attribute your ring to a city, which makes attributing the maker more difficult, cheers
After much research, I found out the ring stamp AB is for Kiev assay master Alexander Vyrzhikovsky 1899-1904. I'll post more as it becomes available.
?B (Cyrillic letters) is unknown jeweler from St Petersburg.Not mentioned in Postnikova Loseva,either.Unidentified in Ivanov and Skurlov.
Even reputable Russian auction houses cannot trace AB.It goes without saying they would do their best to connect those initials with a Faberge subcontractor,but alas,he remains obscure and unknown.See here:
https://fajans.lv/ru/auction/3512
Besides, Faberge subcontractors made jewelry of superb design and craftsmanship, not to be confused with rather modest bracelet shown here.The aura of anything even remotely echoing Faberge name is contagious, well exploited fact by sellers and buyers who believe in great finds.
A typo up there in previous post:
?B (Cyrillic letters)
It should be AB
Would it be possible to show a larger photo of the fitted box? I'm actually working on a study trying to connect Beilin to a family of jewelers by the same name in present-day Belarus as well as the descendants in St. Petersburg. Thanks in advance!
Unfortunately the box is one I picked up elsewhere and is not related to the bracelet, good luck with your research!