Dating to 1899-1903, the case is decorated with vertical stripes of pale green and
mauve translucent enamel over a textured ground, overlaid with gold bands and seed
pearl borders. The push piece is diamond and the front is mounted with an oval plaque
of translucent white enamel over a sunburst ground with crowned gold cipher LCR.
The case is from the Kazan collection and, as Michel Y Ghosn notes in his catalogue
of the Collection (page 103 of ‘Objets de Vertu par Fabergé’, 1996), the initial
‘R’ and Imperial crown tempt one to conclude that the case belonged to a member of
the Romanov family. The case bears the workmaster's initials of Michael Perchin.
A similar example by Perchin sold at Christie's Geneva on 17 November 1981 (lot 107).
This case sold at Sotheby's New Bond Street, London on 31 May for £131,200 (with
commission). The estimate was £50,000 - £70,000.
