posted 06-22-2005 04:41 PM            

In describing the spoons, he couldn't say with absolute certainty that they were not silverplate, and his geographical and chronological estimates of origin were way, way off. But he did make mention of a number 84 next to the profile of a head... which is enough to make me curious.

So I contacted the seller and asked the very specific questions that would get me the answers I wanted. Does the profile face left or right, and is it incised or in relief? What letter or letters are behind the profile? What is the maker's name, approximated as best as one can in Latin/Roman letters?

His reply assured me that we were dealing with silver from 1908-1917. He had a little more difficulty with the maker's name. When I spoke of Latin/Roman letters, he misunderstood this, I guess, as Greek. This works out OK, though, since the Russian Cyrillic alphabet is based mostly on Greek anyway.

So his report to me is that while he can't make out most of the letters, he does see "kappa omega (the circle with the line through it)". Well, there is no analog for Omega in Cyrillic (Omega, of course, is the horseshoe shaped letter at the very end of the Greek alphabet). "The circle with the line through it" is Phi. Clearly, this guy was never a regular at frat parties.

At this point, those Russian silver enthusiasts out there know where this is going. The Greek "kappa phi" is Cyrillic "K F". None other than Karl Faberge, with the imperial eagle warrant mark to boot.

These spoons were definitely ahead of their time, but they were unquestionably authentic. I'd stumbled upon something very valuable, and the seller had no idea. I thought maybe I could expect to get these for far below their value, since the seller's description wasn't giving anybody any clues, and the items were woefully miscategorized as to date of manufacture and their origin.

I arranged to have my bid go in at the last second, so on the morning of the auction's end, I watched and saw that the bids were still pitifully low. The seconds ticked away and brought me closer to owning my first set of Faberge.

posted 06-22-2005 05:05 PM            

I too have had similar experiences.

Unfortunately I can't seem to learn from my mistakes. I am hopeful that your well told tale will save me in the future.

Thanks again.

posted 06-23-2005 02:44 PM            

The other tale is of a great three-piece art deco coffee set with Bakelite handles by Towle, which languished for six months at a high-end NYC dealer's, probably because it was by Towle and not Tiffany. Again with the dope-slap, and I managed to get the set for our collection (now known to be "Ritz" patented by Harold Nock for Towle in 1929). I think there are two other examples known, one in the Dallas Museum collection.

When I get back from vacation, if anyone cares, I'll post pictures.

posted 06-23-2005 05:32 PM            

quote:

---

. . . later I gave myself a dope slap . . . .

---

An apt description. For an even more egregious example, see One that almost did get away. How lucky can a person get?

Unforunately, not being so lucky happens much more frequently, in which case a good, swift kick in the behind (figuratively speaking, of course)is much more appropriate! Curators are not the only ones afraid of making mistakes.

posted 06-24-2005 03:03 PM            

Deirdre

posted 06-25-2005 07:36 AM            

You see blurry fotos on a wellknown auction site, the seller pretends to be an idiot inspite he has made numerous deals, the description is super dull, full of nonsense and when you ask some questions you get blurry faxes of the hallmarks on the wrong places on the wrong spoons.
The motto of this dealers is: Every morning some fool is awakening, you only must get him.

Congratulations that some fool was quicker!!

posted 06-25-2005 01:35 PM            

... The web is not the safest place to trade, and there likely are a disproportionate amount of fakes in many market categories. Nonetheless, I can't help but concede that perhaps for every thousand, ten thousand, fifty thousand frauds, there may be just one genuinely naive individual with a real treasure in his possession--Quite frankly, I want to be the guy to snatch it up, wouldn't you? The key is knowing the real from the fake, and as Sazikov tells me, I have a long way to go to get that kind of acumen.

posted 06-25-2005 01:54 PM            

Personally, I'm no fool (in this regard anyway!). Sellers, both online and brick & mortar, that don't do their research have provided me with some lovely bargain-priced pieces for my collections and some other pieces sold for huge profit. I'm quite sure of my knowledge in certain narrow fields and buy accordingly. Quite truthfully, I've never been "taken" by anyone online, though there are, without doubt, some unscrupulous dealers. By the way, some of my best buys have been from the more prolific sellers, often when they deal in large volume, research is apparently too time-consuming.