Vintage silverplate Soviet cigarette case with engraved image of horse with riding gear beneath horseshoe. Marked Moscow, 1949. "CBA" inside a shield on left side of case. 85% silver. 

Size: 4 1/2 x 3 1/4 x 3/4 in.

Weight: 6.225 ozt. 

#2370 . 

The origins of the curious piece are unknown, but some conjecture can be drawn from the extremely detailed design on the top. This piece is silver with an empty interior and a still-functioning clasp. There are no clear marks anywhere on the silver, making it difficult to identify the maker, or even country of origin. However, a small indentation on the inside bottom stands out as different from the other scratches and scuffs found across the piece, and possibly intentional. It could be a small sailboat, which is a commonly used shape (in multiple variations) from silversmiths in Scandinavian countries, particularly in cities near the sea. The clasp is also remarkable, in that most cigarette holders of this design have a much simpler and integrated shape, while this one appears to have been soldered or welded onto the piece, with unrefined results. Lastly, the cover image holds a wealth of information. The horseshoe bears the name of the city of Moscow, Russia in the Cyrillic alphabet, flanked by the year 1949 with the numbers split evenly. Nearly every available bit of space is marked in the background, with the horse in the center wearing an ornamental bridle with floral rosettes, a style rarely seen outside of the American West at that time. The shield on the left side is the most intriguing piece, as the shape is specifically a badge, most commonly used by various departments of law enforcement in the United States and, to a much lesser degree, the United Kingdom. The initials “CBA” likely refer to the original owner of the cigarette case, and are in English cursive rather than Cyrillic cursive (which does not even use the letter C), deepening the mystery. Overall it would appear this was a gift crafted with tremendous care, given during an extremely tumultuous and pivotal year in the history of the USSR.