Elegant Antique Russian Hallmarked Silver Cigarette or Card Case, Jeweled Clasp
Elegant antique Russian hallmarked .84 (nearly sterling) silver & vermeil 4" x 3" compact style cigarette or card case with ruby colored 'jewel' clasp and wonderful condition! Thick & heavy old Russian silver, nothing overly frilly but as classy as can be! The hallmarks in the lid and body of the piece were introduced in 1908 with a more detailed female head facing right and silver fineness expressed in zolotnik or zolotnicki inside an oval oblong cartouche. The "84" means it's in .875 silver content so 87.5% pure and just under the .925 standard for "sterling" silver. The left side was inscribed with the town/region symbol, this one showing the Delta shape for Moscow. The cyrillic silversmith mark AEW (AESh) is mostly visible but I've not had any luck in finding it amongst my reference guides so far. One of two fabulous old Russian silver cases that we've added this week, among a host of great old Napoleon III and Victorian era tobacco related treasures so, be sure to br