A Faberg? Imperial period Russian silver waiter, 6 1/2 inches in diameter, heavily made and charmingly simple. The rim is raised 1/2 an inch and the centre bears the Roman script letters ‘GW’ interwoven in the Gothic style.?

The Government assay marks are for St Petersburg, 1888 for 84 zolotnik (87.5%) silver. The assay master identified by AF (AF in cyrillic) was in office from 1881 to 1894. The maker’s mark is the S.W in an oval cartouche recorded as mark 1861 in the Russian Hallmark lists. This is the mark of Stephan W?keva. W?keva was born in Sakkijarvi on the 4th of November 1833 and was apprenticed in St Petersburg in 1847, becoming a master in 1856. His workshop was located at 5 Rozhdestvenkaya Street. The workshop supplied Faberg? with silver articles, tea and coffee services. Pieces from Faberg?’s St Petersburg workshops not infrequently bear only the workmaster’s mark; without the Faberg? company marks.