AN IMPRESSIVE 28-PIECE RUSSIAN GILT SILVER PRESENTATION DRINKING SET, SAZIKOV, ST. PETERSBURG, 1874-1875
comprising a salver, a punch bowl with stand, a ladle and 24 drinking cups, all decorated with geometric ornaments in the Pan-Slavic style, marked with 84 standards, town and date marks, assayer's marks P*K in Cyrillic for Pavel Kostychev or I.E in Cyrillic for Ivan Evstigneev, maker's marks SAZIKOV in Cyrillic with Imperial warrant and medals of the 1851 Great Exhibition in London with the profiles of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the interiors gilt; overall weight: approximately 11.5 kg (369.731 ozt)

a) a circular salver on four baluster feet, the apron with punched circles, the border bearing a dedication in Russian: Kapitanu Wigginsu. Ot Imperatorskago Russkago Morskogo Ministerstva / V pamyat' plavaniya v 1893 godu k ust'yu reki Enisey, sovmestno s sudami Imperatorskago flota: "Leitenant Ovtsyn, Leitenant Malygin i Leitenant Skuratov" [To Captain Wiggins. From the Imperial Russian Naval Ministry / In remembrance of the voyage of 1893 to the mouth of the Yenisei river, together with ships of the Imperial Navy: "Lieutenant Ovtsyn, Lieutenant Malygin and Lieutenant Skuratov"], the center bearing dedication in English: This Salver was presented to Captain Joseph Wiggins, F.R.G.S. Siberian Explorer, by the Czar of Russia, 1894, and left by Captain Wiggins to The Royal Geographical Society, England, Sept. 1905., marked with 84 standard and St. Petersburg town mark, maker's mark SAZIKOV in Cyrillic with Imperial Warrant and 1851 Great Exhibition medal; diameter: 50 cm (19 3/4 in.), height: 4 cm (1 5/8 in.), weight: 2.45 kg (78.769 ozt)
b) a two-handled punch bowl, the handles formed as Russian maidens carrying trays on their heads, marked with partly effaced 84 standard, St. Petersburg town mark, date mark and maker's mark SAZIKOV in Cyrillic with Imperial warrant; diameter not including handles: 32 cm (12 5/8 in.), height including handles: 21.5 cm (8 1/2 in.), weight: 3.35 kg (107.704 ozt)
d) an openwork oblong rectangular stand, marked with 84 standard, St. Petersburg town mark, assayer's mark I.E in Cyrillic for Ivan Evstigneev, maker's mark SAZIKOV in Cyrillic with Imperial warrant and 1851 Great Exhibition medal; length: 33 cm (13 in.), weight: 600 g (19.290 ozt)
e) a ladle with shaped openwork handle, marked with 84 standard and date and assayer's mark P*K in Cyrillic for Pavel Kostychev, maker's mark SAZIKOV in Cyrillic with Imperial Warrant and 1851 Great Exhibition medal; length: 31 cm (12 1/4 in.), weight: 350 g (11.253 ozt)
f) 24 drinking cups with squared handles, the rim of each bearing a different Russian saying, each marked with 84 standards, St. Petersburg town marks, date and assayer's marks P*K in Cyrillic for Pavel Kostychev, with incised inventory numbers; height of each: 7 cm (2 3/4 in.), weight of each: approximately 140 g (4.495 ozt), net weight: 3.3 kg (106.097 ozt)

PROVENANCE
Presented to Captain Joseph Wiggins FRGS (British 1832-1905), 1894
Gift of the above to The Royal Geographical Society, London, 1905

LITERATURE
Henry Johnson, The Life and Voyages of Joseph Wiggins, F.R.G.S., Modern Discoverer of the Kara Sea Route to Siberia, Based on his Journals and Letters (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1907), p. 280 (illustrated)