I recently received a Russian Cigarette box as a gift. Here is the story behind it:
My mother's family came to the united states shortly after the revolution. They were Jewish, however my great grandfather was a draftsman (for the court allegedly) and my great grandmother was a concert pianist. Following the revolution they were in hiding and then imprisoned. They eventually were able to escape russia through bribery. Almost everyone in my family with detailed knowledge of our russian heritage has unfortunately passed away.
My mother recently gave me a cigarette box which was brought to this country by my great-grandfather. To my untrained eye, it is unusual in that it is a standard silver cigarette box from the period, but covered with a gold(maybe) shell. There is a Red stone latch. The gold is redder than I am used to and has some blackened areas ... not even sure that it is real.
The case's interior appears to be silver-gilt and is marked as being produced from 84 silver, by Ivan Krutikov, and in moscow. It is apparent from the interior that there is a design on the cover which was later covered by the gold shell.
The gold shell is marked as 56 gold, and possibly produced by Andrei Goryanov. Each of the gold "slats" on the exterior contains a name, and in some cases a date. The dates range from 1912 to 1918. I have just began deciphering the names. The biggest slat, dated 1914, is engraved wit the name, Sergei Ivanovich Torbinsky, as translated by google translator. It appears that the names were added at different times, fwiw. The Initials on the top slat are from my grandfather and his parents
