RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STERLING SILVER CIGARETTE CASE, BOX
On the cigarette case there is an engraving of Rushnik, an important attribute in Russian tradition - it played a significant role in wedding rituals, religious ceremonies, etc.
The case is HALLMARKED '84' for silver content and 'AP' for workmaster ALEXANDER PETROV, ST PETERSBURG, 1896-1908. ALEXANDER PETROV worked in FABERGE shop. BEAUTIFUL ANTIQUE HAND ENGRAVED RIBBON DESIGN AND EDGING.
CONDITION: The item is described to the best of our knowledge. Please refer to pictures and email with any questions.
DIMENSIONS: 80 x 53 mm. Weight: 55.6 grams.
ESTIMATE PRICE: $600 - $800.
HISTORY of SALES: A few years ago the item made by ALEXANDER PETROV was sold on Christie's for $45,000 (!!) - please see the screenshot. Also here you can see one more confirmation related AP (ALEXANDER PETROV) to FABERGE.
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WIKIPEDIA: Rushnyk, Rushnik is a ritual cloth embroidered with symbols and cryptograms of the ancient world. They have been used in sacred Eastern Slavic rituals, religious services and ceremonial events such as weddings and funerals. Each region has its own designs and patterns with hidden meaning, passed down from generation to generation and studied by ethnographers. There are many rushnyk collections in ethnographic museums. In Ukraine, the Rushnyk Museum is located in Pereiaslav, Ukraine as part of The Museum of Folk Architecture and Way of Life of Central Naddnipryanshchyna. A Russian rushnyk collection is housed at the Hermitage Museum. During a wedding ceremony, the bride and groom are standing on a Rushnyk called a pidnozhnyk, which translates as step-on towel. What happens to the pidnozhnyk is that the bride will drag the towel behind her, and her bridesmaids follow behind her. Tradition has it that when the bridesmaids follow behind the pidnozhnyk, they are following the path of the bride and hopefully be married.
HISTORY of Workmasters and Marks at FABERGE SHOP: To understand how the gold, silver, and jewelry industry was structured in Russia at this time, it is worth quoting from Max Engman's article "Finnish Goldsmiths in St. Petersburg during Two Centuries,” in Tillander-Godenhielm, et al., Carl FABERGE and His Contemporaries (1980): Most of the Finnish masters were only concerned with production; very few had their own shops. As a rule, Finnish workshops worked either under contract or as free subsidiary suppliers to firms who took care of sales. The high degree of specialization in the field favoured the adoption of a system of subsidiary suppliers. The House of FABERGE had an organisation of this kind. In addition to the workshops which operated on the firm's premises, many of which were presided over by Finnish masters, FABERGE employed many other workshops as subsidiary suppliers.

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