RUSSIAN SILVER ARTELS
(ST.PETERSBURG)
The artels in Imperial Russia were semi formal co-operatives in different fields like agriculture, fishing,
mining, timber industry and gold/silver smithing. Nowadays they are all forgotten except for the gold/silver
artels due to the fine objects they produced and still exsist.
An artel is a factory but the opposite of mass production. It produced unique objects or pieces of art of
very high quality. An artel could not have less than 5 owners/attendants. However, you were allowed to hire
more people but only for a short limited period. An artel had its own rules and you were obliged to obey
them. Everyone working there was collectively liable for all the operations in the artel. You could work
in an artel from the age of 17 on.
All known master workshops or artels for silver, gold as well as icons with oklads and enamel cloisonné and
guilloché objects towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century are listed in these pages, with
details of styles used.
The artels’ series of numbers is not complete. Until today there is no evidence of the existence of a
silver artel carrying any of the following numbers: 10, 16, 17, 19, 21, 24, 27 or 30. Why the series of
numbers is incomplete is not known.
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ST.PETERSBURG/PETROGRAD SILVER ARTELS
1899 - 1917 SILVER MARKS
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(text and images by Postnikov and Qrts )
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MARKS - DATES - INFORMATION
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1st SILVER AND GILDING ARTEL
Originally 1CA, later ICA
date: 1910-1912(3?)
Faberge’s supplier. Made objects as silver on crystal, objects with jade and rodonit,
wine carafes, cigarette lighters, inkstands and other luxurious objects. No work in enamel.
Julius Rappoport's workshop until 1910. Supplier to Fabergé. The punch 1CA/ICA is marked
in connection with the double eagle court supplier mark when the Fabergé mark is punched.
Address: Ekaterinskij kanal 69.
Overtaken by Hjalmar Armfelt’s workshop.
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2nd ARTISTIC ARTEL
date: after 1908
Very little is known about this 2nd artel.
Limited production such as vodka beakers,
wine carafes etc.
Art nouveau, Traditional style
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3rd JEWELLERY ARTEL
date: mentioned 1915
Faberge's supplier. Gold, enamel, guilloche
Head workmaster Vasilij Nikolajevitsh Ivanov. Address: Ekaterinskij kanal 48.
Fabergé’s employees probably founded the 3rd artel. Their enamelling guilloche technique,
a half transparent color became famous. It has patterns of waves, fish bones etc.
The technique was used on ordinary things made as luxurious objects like table watches, photo
frames etc. Some enameled objects in gold and objects in silver in the quality of 88 Zolotniki.
The color range was pale rose, blue, apple green, light cobalt, strawberry red etc.
If the object was not enameled the silver quality was usually the unusual 91 Zolotniki quality
which was very difficult to work with.
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4th JEWELLERY ARTEL
date: 1914-1917
Particularly nothing is known about this 4th artel or its very limited production.
Head workmaster Vasilij Vasiljevitsh Vasilijev 1914-15, Aleksandr Jakolevitsh Kuleimin
1916.
Address: Kazanskaja Uliza 46
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8th SILVER ARTEL
date: mentioned 1915 and 1917
Founded and consisted of Faberge’s work masters.
Working partly with enamelling in cloisonné but also in the plique-a-jour and the guilloche
techniques. Only very few objects are known.
Head workmaster Nikolai Martinovish Matvejev. Very famous artel.
Address: Ekaterinskij kanal 41, flat 22
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