LARGE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL SILVER NIELLO ENGRAVED SPOON, 1880
The item is very nice made.
HALLMARKS: '84' for silver and 'MK' for workmaster - Mikhail Mikhailovich Karpinskiy.
ASSAYER: 'I.K' in Cyrillic for Ivan Yefimovich Konstantinov, Moscow 1875-1882.
CONDITION: Very good for age. The item is described to the best of our knowledge. Please refer to pictures and email with any questions.
LARGE SIZE: 190 x 52 mm (7 1/2 x 2 inches). Weight: 65 grams.
ESTIMATE PRICE: $700 - $2,000.
HISTORY of SALES: A few years ago Russian Silver niello Spoons were sold on Live Auctioneers for $5,100 and $5,700 - please see the screenshots.
INVESTMENT: You have a GREAT CHANCE to purchase a unique item for your collection - over the years it will only INCREASE in price.
NO RESERVE: More than 90% of all auctioned items have NO reserve price. The rest have a very reasonable reserve.
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PAY in PARTS: You can pay for any item during 3-6 months. Just make a 10% deposit and the item will wait for you. We have been offering a possibility of deferring a payment for more than a year now and many people like it and have taken advantage of it.
SHIPPING: Domestic shipping for this particular item is $18.85. NO pick up fee, NO handling fee, NO transportation fee. Combined shipping is available. Next item will be ONE DOLLAR for shipping.
NEW: Returning customers will have 50% DISCOUNT on shipping.
WELCOME: We welcome NEW bidders. We will send the item according YOUR instruction.
PLEASE NOTE: If you want to buy this item, please make a bid now. Any offer is welcome. Some lots, that do Not Have any Bids on them, WILL be CLOSED before the auction is started and will not be included in it. Now, there are 700+ items for preview, but there will be ONLY 450 items in the Live Auction.

WIKIPEDIA: Niello is a black mixture, usually of sulphur, copper, silver, and lead, used as an inlay on engraved or etched metal, especially silver. It is added as a powder or paste, then fired until it melts or at least softens, and flows or is pushed into the engraved lines in the metal. It hardens and blackens when cool, and the niello on the flat surface is polished off to show the filled lines in black, contrasting with the polished metal (usually silver) around it. It may also be used with other metalworking techniques to cover larger areas, as seen in the sky in the diptych illustrated here. The metal where niello is to be placed is often roughened to provide a key. In many cases, especially in objects that have been buried underground, where the niello is now lost, the roughened surface indicates that it was once there. Niello was used on a variety of objects including sword hilts, chalices, plates, horns, adornment for horses, jewellery such as bracelets, rings, pendants, and small fittings such as strap-ends, purse-bars, buttons, belt buckles and the like. It was also used to fill in the letters in inscriptions engraved on metal. Periods when engraving filled in with niello has been used to make full images with figures have been relatively few, but include some significant achievements. In ornament, it came to have competition from enamel, with far wider colour possibilities, which eventually displaced it in most of Europe. The name derives from the Latin nigellum for the substance, or nigello or neelo, the medieval Latin for black. Though historically most common in Europe, it is also known from many parts of Asia and the Near East.

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