Posted 4 years ago
mcheconi
(42 items)
Well...I guess I hit jackpot again...found this Fabergé listed as "Antique Austro-Hungarian box" in our local "eBay"...a quick Google search revealed it to be a rare wartime Fabergé cigarette case...one of the last (or maybe the last) comissions from the Russian Empire made to Fabergé.
My little Fabergé case is in excellent condition, no dents or visible scratches. The last picture is from a 1993 Russian catalog that shows the exact same case (FABERGÉ COURT JEWELER).
Fabergé made these cigarette cases in copper, silver and brass.
Some other examples:
https://atzbach.com/product/a-faberge-brass-wartime-1915-cigarette-case/
https://testlive.bag-auction.eu/product/lot-69-faberge-silver-cigarette-case-with-double-head-eagle/
https://forums-su.com/viewtopic.php?f=431&t=630704
https://www.frontmedal.com/catalog/muzei-vystavki-kollektsii/prezentatsionnyj-portsigar-imperatritsy-a.f.-romanovoj.html
The description below is from the webpage of a similar example kept in the David Iakobachvili Museum Collection in Moscow.
https://mus-col.com/en/collection/decorative-arts/jewelry-and-accessories/jewelry-accessories/17018/
"Cigarette case "War of 1914-1915"
Russia, Moscow
1915
Fabergé firm
Copper; presswork, gilding
9.2 x 5.7 x 1.7 cm
Copper rectangular cigarette case, parcel-gilt, with rounded corners and sides, comprised of two equal halves, connected by a hinge. The top lid is decorated with a relief image of a double-headed eagle - the state emblem of the Russian Empire, beneath it: "WAR 1914*1915" in round medallion.
The cigarette case was manufactured by Faberge firm during the period of the First World War (1914-1918). The decrease of the demand for jewelery in these years prompted the owner of the firm to adapt the workshops to the wartime needs. C. Faberge firm started to produce the items for the front. Moscow factory was reequipped into a mechanical plant. It produced purely functional items from inexpensive and practical materials - brass, copper, and spelter. They were field utensils: mugs, pots, pans, samovars, kettles, kerosene stoves, basins, washstands. The honorary items - ashtrays, glass holders, copper cigarette cases with the Russian coat of arms and the memorable inscription "War of 1914" and "War of 1914-1915" were created as well. Such objects Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna presented to soldiers, medical nurses, officers and members of their families."
Links for easy reference:
https://mus-col.com/en/collection/decorative-arts/jewelry-and-accessories/jewelry-accessories/17018/
https://www.frontmedal.com/catalog/muzei-vystavki-kollektsii/prezentatsionnyj-portsigar-imperatritsy-a.f.-romanovoj.html
https://testlive.bag-auction.eu/product/lot-69-faberge-silver-cigarette-case-with-double-head-eagle/
More links:
http://www.sammler.ru/index.php?showtopic=13813
http://skurlov.blogspot.com/2014/12/blog-post.html
https://bruun-rasmussen.dk/m/lots/A2C95A4EE427?utm_campaign=barnebys&utm_content=2018-11-30&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=barnebys
More reference links:
http://www.sammler.ru/index.php?showtopic=13813
Congratulations !.!!!.!
Thanks vetraio!
Most excellent !
Thanks Vynil33rpm...I am so happy!
Thank you kwqd!
What a fabulous find ! I hope your doing well my friend and staying well. xo
Hello Manikin, thank you for your love. Yeas, I am well and hope you are fine too. There are treasures out there! xo
Many thanks to RichmondLori, dav2no1 and fortapache!
Neat find. The silver example I saw was mesmerizing, absolutely breathtaking. Moscow produced a lot of fine trench art for instance also, and I continue to find some exquisite examples that were sold particularly in Jewelry stores around the time of the wars. This piece of yours is so neat and I love all Russian pieces all the way up to the Space race which produced some fine cigarette cases also. The German auctions also continue to sell really neat pieces from the wars and are a good place to look also. This piece of yours show the very fine chiseling that the metalworkers could accomplish and their cool metalwork !~
Thank you valentino97!
Thank you Phil, I am so happy I found this jewel. I don't know much about trench art besides that there are some very well made planes and tanks replicas made by bored soldiers. This little cigarette case is in another level. It is an utilitarian object made by the finest jeweler of his time and it shows the superb craftmanship of the Fabergé workshops. Even after 105 years it opens and closes smoothy, the gap between the two halves is perfectly aligned. It is polished to perfection and the design and typeface used in the embossed text are very modern. It would be usable if it wasn't rare as it is. There are Fabergé documents stating that only 500 cigarette cases like this were produced.
Thank you BB.
Thank you ho2cultcha!
Thanks AnythingObscure!
Outstanding find!! Congrats!
Thank you Brunswick for the love!
jscott0363, thank you and I am glad you liked it.
Thanks pickrknows!
I hope you have had a great Christmas and I hope we get out of this Covid mess O.K.
The best wishes to you and your family for the New Year !~
congratulations on this great find and purchase!!
Thank you Sean!
Thanks to charmsomeone and Drake47 for the love.
i have seen this in some sort of scandinavian auction i believe and thet do a awfull lot of money it is above your imagination
well done
Apostata, thank you for your comment. I was lucky with this one. Apparently there were only 500 of these made.
From a Russian paper published in 2017 (? ??????? ????????? ??????? ??????????? ??????? ??????????? ? ????? «???????» ? 1909-1916 ??. ???? ?12 (132), ???., 2017. // To the history of certain orders of the Russian Military Institutions of the Faberge? firm, 1909–1916. KLIO ?12 (132) SPb., 2017.)
Translated using Google Translate:
Among Faberge's military clients, there was a rather "specialized" one - we are talking about the so-called "Officer's Tree", a traditional New Year's Eve event, which at that time became a tradition and was celebrated in the Alexander Palace. From 1910 to 1914, more than 60 orders were made for the "Officer's Tree", more than for any military customer. And the order for 1915 stands out in particular, when an order was made for items that are regularly found on the antique market - coasters and cigarette cases with the inscription “War 1914-1915, C. Faberge; Tsarskoye Selo 1916. The total order cost almost 3,000 rubles and included the following items [1, l. 258rev]:
100 cigarette cases (5 rubles each) - 500 rubles
150 glass holders (5 rubles each) - 750 rubles
151 glasses (4 rubles each) - 604 rubles
Engraving (2.5 rubles each) - 1002.5 rubles
401 boxes - 100 rubles
probably krivoshey article won,t help you,bit premature, for now there is no dispute
actually , we can,t narrow down the value this way , because we have to do a pars pro toto, because they only gives amounts
so it is about tsarkoe selo marking
the state where it is in
the indexation to past sales
so might lose on the absence of the tsarkoe selo mark
you win on the condition
and you win on the benchmark , because the benchmark is a few years old
i can,t talk value here
there is an easy trick here asked one of the mayor auction houses , which reserve do you recommand when i bring it in, that,s all, it will make the cut so they do it
Apostata,
you are right about krivoshey's paper as it doesn't cover all the commisions made by the Russian military in this period. The unmarked pieces are not listed in this article. I also found an auction from 2005 where the same piece, unmarked copper case, was sold for US$9.000,00 : https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4473783