Worth It or Worthless?

Yogi Berra once said “A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore.”  But while the stock market is down and anxiety is up, you may find value where you least expect it.

Q:  I discovered this metal box while I was cleaning out a desk in my deceased father’s home.  It is very dirty, should I polish it?  Can you tell me anything about it and it’s value?

A: STOP! Put down the Tarn-X this minute! I’ll get into this further after I tell you a little bit about your “metal box."

To begin, the box is a cigarette case in excellent vintage condition; even the elastic inside to hold the cigarettes is still intact.  Your case has appeal for a variety of reasons.

Your box has documented provenance – a huge plus in the antiques and collectibles market.  On the cover, it is engraved J. H. Prothero.  James Harrison Prothero (1862-1929) was an 1890 graduate of Missouri Dental College and a pioneer in prosthetic dentistry.  He was a professor at Northwestern University Dental School.  The dedication on the inside appears to be from a former student.  What is especially interesting is that it is dated 6/05 and that it is inscribed Varsaw, Russia, indicating that the case was given as a gift before Poland’s independence from Imperialist Russia.  The image on the back is the Kremlin.  These are great clues in identifying the case and determining it’s value.

The interior is gilded and has distinguishing marks. Firstly, it is stamped 84, which stands for 84 zolotniki (875/1000).  This is the Russian standard for high quality silver (England and the US’s sterling standard is 925/1000).  It is also stamped with the Cyrillic letters BEP, identifying Vasily Yegorovich Rukavishnikov as the silversmith.  The case was probably made in Moscow between 1890 and 1905.  The darkness that you see on the cover of the case is part tarnish and part “niello”.  This is a process by which a black compound is added to engraved silver to give the deeper cuts more dimension.  This is why you should not attempt to polish it.

While the market is slow now for collectible "smalls", I think with the right buyer this cigarette case could fetch $400-650 at auction.  The x-factor here is the historical context of the engraving to Dr. Prothero.  If this was a cigarette case from a US maker, the historical reference might be significant. If the engraving were to a prominent Russian dentist, it could likewise be of importance.  In this particular situation, there needs to be crossover interest.  The only way to find out might be to offer this at auction (Internet or otherwise) to an international buyer.

If you would like to submit your item for identification and valuation, please send a thorough description and photo to re:HOME.  Your "treasure" may appear in a future blog post on Patch.com.