posted 06-02-2005 01:02 PM            

Sazikov 2000

posted 06-02-2005 03:45 PM            

Also, Tardy is great for identifying the country of origin, and often an estimate of manufacture date, but it's not the most thorough reference. As S2K once said, it's "a dog from every village". Of course, to see one dog is not always to see the whole breed. Also, Tardy won't help you one bit when it comes to identifying makers, because it deals only with the official markings of the represented countries (assay marks, date marks, etc). But if you plan to encounter much silver of many countries, Tardy is advisable.

S2K mentioned a book to you in a different thread, Estonian silver hallmarks. That book, Zolotoe i Serebryanoe delo XV-XX vv. (S2K spells it according to German phonetics, and I according to American English), is the most complete reference, of which I am aware, on silver marks from Russia and eastern Europe. In addition to official marks of assay, town marks, quality marks, etc., it includes an extensive list of makers organized by location. That book would help you tremendously with virtually every piece of silver you could find from the represented regions. Naturally, such a Holy Grail of a Rosetta Stone does not come cheap. However, if you care to learn some Cyrillic (the book is in Russian), and you plan to encounter such silver frequently and more exclusively, it's worth every penny paid.