Object Description
A stylish antique silver drinks tray of sleek, geometric form. Will hold up 6 bottles of champagne. Excellent quality and heavy gauge silver. Engraved to the front and rear with a monogram in cursive script.
Weight 1540 grams, 49.5 troy ounces.
Length 36cm. Width 27cm. Height 5.5cm.
Maker Grachev Brothers, St Petersburg.
Retailed by G. Keller, Paris.
Circa 1900.
Marks. The tray bears multiple Russian silver stamps to the front side and on the tray centre:
the Russian national silver mark “left profile of a woman wearing a diadem” used 1896-1907
maker’s mark for Grachev Brothers
the base is stamped with the retailer’s mark “G. Keller, Paris”.
Russian silver fineness is measured in zolotniks and there are 96 zolotniks to the Russian pound. 84 zolotniks corresponds to 875 parts per 1000 silver whereas sterling silver has 925 parts per 1000 silver.
GRACHEV BROTHERS
Grachev Brothers (1866-1918). A prestigious gold and silver manufacturing business based in St Petersburg, originated by Gavriil Petrovich Grachev in 1866. On his death in 1873 the company was renamed Grachev Brothers when his sons Mikhail, Simon and Grigory took over. Each brother had his own mark.
The business developed a name for producing exceptional quality items. They exhibited at Russian and International fairs including the Pan-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in 1896, the Nordic Exhibition in Copenhagen in 1888 and the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
Grachev Brothers received many important commissions from European royalty and became official supplier of the King of Denmark in 1886. In 1892, the company became a prominent supplier to the Russian Imperial Court and thus could use the Imperial Warrant (a double-headed eagle) as part of its hallmark. Several years later Mikhail and Gavriil were made honorary hereditary citizens.
The brothers produced a comprehensive range of silver toilet, dining and tea sets, objects of vertu and jewellery particularly in the traditional Russian style, using different techniques, such as enamel. Some of their items were retailed by Fabergé.
The business ceased operations in March 1918.