Need Help Identifying Maker of this Silver Salt Chair

[ronenros]

Hi,
I recently acquired this Russian silver salt chair. The assay mark is for Kostroma, but the maker's mark of АБ, I'm unsure of. The only reference that I could find for this mark attributes it to Andrei Bragin of St Petersburg, but then I saw a similar example of a salt chair to mine attributed to Artemi Vasilev Blochin, but they didn't show the mark although they stated that it was AB. I was unable to find any information on Blochin, but Bragin is well known.
Does anyone know for sure who the maker is? Please let me know if the photos are viewable
Thank you in advance for your input!

[ronenros]

[quote="ronenros"]Hi,
I recently acquired this Russian silver salt chair. The assay mark is for Kostroma, but the maker's mark of АБ, I'm unsure of. The only reference that I could find for this mark attributes it to Andrei Bragin of St Petersburg, but then I saw a similar example of a salt chair to mine attributed to Artemi Vasilev Blochin, but they didn't show the mark although they stated that it was AB. I was unable to find any information on Blochin, but Bragin is well known.
Does anyone know for sure who the maker is? Please let me know if the photos are viewable
Thank you in advance for your input
!

[Mart]

Hello!
This is Kostroma province, not St. Petersburg. The years are approximately 1885-1888.

[ronenros]

Hi Mart,
Thank you! I guess that Bragin never worked in Kostroma and a St Petersburg silversmith would have used the St Petersburg assay office, so most likely Blochin, unless there was another silversmith using the АБ mark. Do you know anything about Artemi Vasilev Blochin?
Thanks again for your help!

[Mart]

Earlier I made a typo: correctly 1885-1898, towards the end of the century. I'm sorry.
Artemiy Vasilyevich Blokhin ( Артемий Васильевич Блохин-АВБ) from Kostroma province was a participant of the world exhibition in Paris in 1900, but there are many products with the brands "АВБ". There were a lot of silversmiths and large dynasties working in Kostroma province. I can't say for sure exactly whose brand is "AБ". Even in the Blokhin family there were several "AБ".
In theory, Artemy could have the brand "AБ", and then change it to "ABБ", but it takes a lot of time and effort to know for sure.

[ronenros]

Thank you Mart, your insight is very much appreciated!
Best regards,
Ron