Beware of Imitations
We love our customers and hate the idea that they can be fooled by dishonest sellers. Yet it keeps happening: imitations and outright fakes are sold under the Lomonosov name, most often as “Cobalt Net”, in third-party listings on eBay, Amazon and other marketplaces.
Why Cobalt Net is the pattern they copy
Cobalt Net is the best-known design of the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, and a blue net with gold accents looks easy to reproduce. It is not. The original is made on the manufactory's own equipment and fired at 1400 °C (2552 °F). The copies we have examined are fired at about 1300 °C (2372 °F), and their blue is noticeably different from true cobalt.
A fake is not a cheaper version of the same thing. It is a different product made elsewhere, mostly in China, from materials we cannot vouch for.
Three checks that take a minute
- The mark on the base. New pieces carry the mark used since 2006: a double-headed eagle, “Imperial Porcelain”, 1744 and “St. Petersburg”. The earlier ЛФЗ monogram belongs on vintage pieces only.
- The pattern. On the original the net is built from diamonds stretched downwards, and the gold is one even shade. On a fake the net runs in stripes and the gold changes from lighter to darker.
- The box. Manufactory packaging shows the cobalt net on a white background with the Imperial eagle and the company name. A generic box or another company's trademark means the piece came from somewhere else.
The full checklist with photographs is in our guide: how to identify fake Lomonosov porcelain. Side-by-side pairs of fakes and originals are in the Imitation Gallery.
If you are in doubt, ask us
Send a photograph of the piece and of its backstamp to [email protected], and we will tell you whether it is fake or original. We would rather answer one more email than see you pay for an imitation.
For the real thing, see our Cobalt Net collection.