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Russian Goldstone Easter Egg

907H
Written by Olly Gerrish

An attractive goldstone Russian egg. It was made circa 1908-1915 and has a silver loop with Russian marks for St Petersburg 1908-1917. The manufacturing process for goldstone was invented in seventeenth-century Venice by the Miotti family.   A goldstone amulet from 12th-century Persia shows that other, earlier artisans were also able to create the material. The most common form of goldstone is reddish-brown, containing tiny crystals of metallic copper that require special conditions to form properly. The initial batch is melted together from silica, copper oxide, and other metal oxides to chemically reduce the copper ions to elemental copper.  The vat is then sealed off from the air and the glass is kept hot enough to remain liquid while allowing metallic crystals to precipitate from solution without melting or oxidising.  After some time the entire batch is cooled to a single solid mass, which is then broken out of the vat for selection and shaping. The best material is near the centre of the mass, ideally with large, bright metal crystals suspended in a semitransparent glass matrix.

Item Number
907H
Measurements
Height 1.3 cm
Width8 mm
Materials
Date & Origin
Provenance
Russian
Hallmarks
84 (silver standard) and mark for St Petersburg
Condition
Excellent
Discovered
8 years ago
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