RUSSIAN NEOCLASSICAL STYLE SILVER GLASS HOLDER, 1922-1929

Hallmarks: silver standard marks ‘woman’s head in kokoshnik facing right’, mark of the Moscow Platinum Manufacture ‘MOSK. PLAT. ZAV.’ (1922-1929) H. 10.5 cm gross weight: 174 gr. In 1918, the workshop of the renowned Russian silversmith I. P. Khlebnikov, supplier to the Imperial Court, was nationalized. From then until 1922, the remaining factory equipment was used to restore a precious-metal refining (affinage) operation. After the Civil War, the country faced a trade and economic blockade. The workers’ expertise with precious metals was redirected to produce industrial parts, products, and equipment needed by the Soviet economy. In 1922, the main enterprise was reorganized into the Moscow Platinum Manufacture, which specialized in manufacturing industrial platinum products. Some of the surviving equipment and skilled workers of Khlebnikov’s workshops were therefore used to resume the production of tableware and related items.