An Imperial Jewelled Gold and Enamel Cigarette Case, Hahn, workmaster Carl Blank, St Petersburg, 1895

rectangular, the surface of opaque lapis blue enamel, the borders with diamond-set ribbon-tied swags within bright-cut gold bands, the corners with diamond-set flowerheads or anthemia, cabochon ruby thumbpiece, the end with vesta compartment, the back with tinder cord channel, the interior lid inscribed in English 'For darling Nicky/ from/ Alix/ Jan. 1st 1895' and the interior base 'yr. own Pelly', struck with workmaster's initials, 56 standard

Emperor Nicholas II, to whom given by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, New Year's Day, 1895
Purchased in Russia by the family of the present owner shortly after the Revolution
Thence by descent; the object has been kept in a vault since the Second World War

Some scratches to surface, particularly on the underside of the case. Otherwise in excellent condition and attractive.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The engraved date on the interior of the lid indicates that this cigarette case was a New Year’s Day gift to the young Emperor, an enthusiastic smoker, from his new wife in the first weeks of their marriage.  1895 promised some degree of normalcy and quiet, following the tumultuous 1894, which brought the death of Alexander III on 1 November and Nicholas’ uneasy ascension to the throne, followed so quickly by the rather mournful wedding just twenty-five days later.  On New Year's Eve he wrote in his diary, 'I look forward to the next year without fear - because for me the worst has already happened, that which I feared all my life!  But together with this irrevocable grief the Lord has rewarded me also with a happiness which I could never have imagined.  He has given me Alix.' 

Nicholas and Alexandra began using the nickname “Pelly” for one another early in their courtship, “Pelly I” referring to her and “Pelly II” to him.  The first recorded use dates to 1889, when he was twenty-one and she sixteen.  In January of that year, the young princess came to Russia to visit her sister Ella, who was by that time married to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich; it was during this visit that the romance budded.  In October 1889, Nicholas closed a letter to Alexandra with ‘I remain your loving Nicky (one of the Pelly party)’.  The precise origin of “Pelly” remains obscure but may have involved Ella, as she used the names in writing to them.  ‘Whatever the origins of the names, their use served to alleviate some of the shyness the two young people felt in writing to one another.’  (V. Rounding, Alix and Nicky: The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina, London, 2011, p. 102.)