A late 19th century Austrian silver and niello work vesta case

A late 19th century Austrian silver and niello work vesta case,

maker's mark L.V, Vienna circa 1894,

rectangular form, with foliate niello decoration and with gold foliate highlights, sprung-hinged cover, the interior inscribed 'Grand Duke Michael of Russia from Spencer Eddy 1894', length 4.8cm, approx. weight 1.1oz.

Provenance:

A Private Collection.

Alastair Dickenson Ltd.

Woolley and Wallis, Salisbury, Silver Sale, 30 April 2008, lot 209.

Grand Duke Mikhail of Russia, born 1878 St. Petersburg and assassinated 1918 in perm. In 1894 on the death of his father Tsar Alexander III, Mikhail's brother became Tsar Nicholas II. In 1917 Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, March 15th bequeathing our inheritance to our brother the Grand Duke Mikhail, who for only a few hours, was the last Tsar of Russia before it was declared a Republic.

Spencer Fayette Eddy, American diplomat, born Illinois 1874, died 1939. He was Secretary of the American Embassy in St. Petersburg in 1894, and narrowly escaped with his life to Berlin during the time of the 1905 Revolution when he was nearly ridden down by cavalry when he got in between half a squadron of Cossacks charging the crowd and the crowd itself.