Imperial Russia Badge -- Imperial Moscow Technical School

[Chuck In Oregon]

An 1870 example of this badge is shown in Avers 3, page 87, item 432. Avers lists both a silver and a bronze variety.

I believe mine may be a later variation. Either that, or my maker had a finer touch. Note, for instance, the difference in the edges of the leaves versus that in Avers.

It has three parts. The wreath and ribbon are one part and that part is both proofed silver and hallmarked. The hallmark is the cyrillic letters for FG, in a neat block form. That may be Fedor Grigorovich Gorbunov, who was a silver master in the period 1895 - 1908. I'm going to guess that the letters are gilted silver. The eagle appears, to my untrained eye, to be silver-plated bronze, as does the screwback. The plate is a dipped bronze. The latter three items are not marked at all.

Chuck

Edited November 21, 2005 by Chuck In Oregon