Sometimes in the Palace records, they would note down which "service" was used for what occassion, just as the notation that the Blue Border Service was used for Tatiana's birthday. There may well be a notation for some events which silver service was used, with a sufficient description to identify it, if it shows up. Also, the Hammer sale items all come with a specific provenance as to location. The problem with the Hammer sale descriptions is that while "usually" accurate, they aren't always. Sometimes non-Imperial items of equal quality were "dressed up" with an Imperial provenance. One never knows when these Hammer Gallery items pop up.
The Antiqvariat descriptions were usually relaible, so maybe some lucky tourist picked up a place setting or two of AP silver, and still has the original receipt.
