Lot 0042
Russian Business Card Case and Stamp Dispenser “FM”, Israel Szekman, Warsaw, 1908–1917
Estimate: 600-700€
A Russian business card case and stamp dispenser, with the monogram “FM”.
Warsaw, Russian Empire, firm of Israel Szekman, 1908–1917.
Silver, gilding.
Dimensions: 3.5 × 6.0 × 6.0 cm. Weight: 95 g.
Marks: maker’s mark “W.K.”; firm’s stamp “I. SZEKMAN”; Warsaw assay mark for 1908–1917.
A compact, architecturally shaped table accessory formed as a closed, two-tier box: the upper compartment intended for post stamps, while the lower, forward-sloping bay functions as an accessible dispenser for visiting cards.
Israel Szekman was among the leading Warsaw silversmith-entrepreneurs of the late 19th to early 20th century. He opened a shop in 1886 specialising in applied metal fittings, and in 1891 established a factory producing plated and silver objects. By the mid-1890s the workforce numbered about twenty, later fluctuating between ten and twenty. By 1914 the factory’s output included silver and metal goods, among them lamps and shades. Around 1919 the firm’s management appears to have passed within the family, later to Szekman’s sons and, by the late 1920s, to the brothers Berish and Zyskind Szekman.
Starting price: 500€
Estimate: 600-700€
Hammer Price: €
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