19 C bracelet w/ crown & stag marks, Cyrillic - E. European?

PHOTOS REQUIRED - marks + item
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minka
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Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2017 11:09 pm
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19 C bracelet w/ crown & stag marks, Cyrillic - E. European?

Post by minka »

Greetings! This is my first post but I use this website often to research hallmarks - it's a wonderful resource. I recently acquired an unusual sterling and niello bracelet from the late 19th - early 20th C with three hallmarks that I cannot identify. I'm hoping someone here might recognize them.

In addition to the three marks (large crown above a large stag, two smaller stags), there is also a name in Cyrillic on the back outside of the bracelet (probably the original owner's name, like an ID bracelet). The first part of the name is "Ekaterina" or "Ekaterin" but I can't figure out the second part of the name/surname. The hallmarks don't look anything like Russian hallmarks I researched, so I think it might be from an eastern European country that also used/uses Cyrillic. Info on those were more scarce and I didn't find any similar marks from Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia etc. so I am stumped. I will post photos of the bracelet and marks below. Any help would be much appreciated!
Regards

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AG2012
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Re: 19 C bracelet w/ crown & stag marks, Cyrillic - E. European?

Post by AG2012 »

Hi,
The inscription in niello is Ekaterini, a Greek feminine given name. It could be Greek, Cypriot or made within Greek colonies in Asia Minor (now Turkey).
Will try to decipher the second word, as well as stag mark.
Regards
AG2012
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Re: 19 C bracelet w/ crown & stag marks, Cyrillic - E. European?

Post by AG2012 »

I think the second word is family name ending with -ou ,mainly from Cyprus, but not exclusively.
minka
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Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2017 11:09 pm
Location: New York, NY U.S.

Re: 19 C bracelet w/ crown & stag marks, Cyrillic - E. European?

Post by minka »

Ahhh, how cool! Thank you so much for your reply, time and expertise.

I thought "Ekaterina" wasn't quite right because it looked like an "H" at the end, not an "A" but I would never have figured out that it was Ekaterini. My brain was too focused on eastern Europe, although I also thought the second name ended in "ou" (based on the Cyrillic chart I was looking at). Which got me confused since it's not a Slavic ending. But you are right, it is very much a Greek and Cypriot surname ending.

Do you think that the lettering could be Pontic Greek, using Cyrillic?

I knew this bracelet was unusual - I don't have anything like it - but this is even more interesting than I thought. I won it at an auction and from the moment I saw it I just loved it. It's more beautiful and finely-made than my crummy photos of it suggest. But there was very little information about its provenance, other than that it was late 19th - early 20th, with unknown hallmarks and a name in Cyrillic. I'm thinking that because of the niello, it's probably 19th C but not sure.

I wonder which area might have had stags (or celebrated the stag), that it was used as a hallmark.

About the name: I don't know if you can see it in the photo, but after "Ekaterini" there is a dot, and then an A, and then another dot. Then the next letter, which I think is the first letter of the surname, is an "S" I believe. Maybe the "A" is a middle initial, because of the dots. I thought the surname was S-O-G-K-O-U based on the chart I was looking at but not sure about the "G".

I will add a couple of new photos which do the bracelet a little more justice and maybe offer a little more clarity.

Thanks very much again for your reply and help. I really appreciate it.
Regards

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AG2012
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Re: 19 C bracelet w/ crown & stag marks, Cyrillic - E. European?

Post by AG2012 »

The last letter in the name is eta ``H`` It was pronounced like e in bet in Ancient Greek, but in modern Greek it`s like i in ``bid``.
So, the name is EKATERINI.Could be middle name ``A`` but then difficult to tell what comes after that.
Cyrillic alphabet developed from Greek, therefore similar letters, but this is Greek alphabet.
I think it`s 19th century.
Will answer if I find something about the stag.
minka
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2017 11:09 pm
Location: New York, NY U.S.

Re: 19 C bracelet w/ crown & stag marks, Cyrillic - E. European?

Post by minka »

Thank you! I appreciate the info and the very quick replies.
Best,
M
perisae1
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Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2017 3:10 pm

Re: 19 C bracelet w/ crown & stag marks, Cyrillic - E. European?

Post by perisae1 »

Hello.
I' m Greek and "AG2012" is totally right (again)!
It is a Greek full woman name. I believe that the last name is ΑΛΟΓΚΟΥ or ΑΝΟΓΚΟΥ.
For history, in Asia Minor (now Turkey), the major or the last names (not all) ended with -ΓΛΟΥ ( -glou). In this missing the Λ.
Also the end -ΟΥ is characteristic of Arbanites (many in Attica (ΑΤΤΙΚΗ) /Athens in 19th century) and (Hepeirus/ ΗΠΕΙΡΟΣ). Hepeirus was famous center in Ottoman Empire for handmade silver objects (but with no hallmarks)
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