Description:

A DIAMOND SET GOLD CIGARETTE CASE, MADE BY MARC ANDRE SOUCHAY & CHARLES COLIN, SWITZERLAND, 19TH CENTURY

Rectangular with curved corners, the lid adorned with large gem-set scrolls around a central gold frame and dark blue enamel rim,the base with engine turned the sides with further engine turning with a dentilled chain pattern with a dark blue enamel frame, the corners with dark blue palmette and wreath ornament, rubbed mark of Souchay & Colin below a star in a horizontal lozenge, 20 in rectangle, Hanau prestige mark in the form of a bird’s head on the right inner rim

8.4cm. length, 159g

The makers of this box - Marc André Souchay and Charles Colin - were each from long lines of esteemed goldsmiths in the important goldsmithing town of Hanau which was a centre of goldsmithing in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. 

Marc André Souchay was born the fifth child of Huguenot Jacques Souchay de la Duboissère. Jacques Souchay had trained in Paris before fleeing to Geneva and, finally, settling in Hanau in 1714. Prior to his professional partnership with Colin, Marc André also worked closely with his brother, Esaias, running the business as Frères Souchay. 

Charles Colin was also a member of the most prolific goldsmithing firms in Hanau in the nineteenth century. They created numerous gold boxes that were used as snuff and presentation boxes by sovereign rulers all over Europe and Russia; an example of these is found in the Gilbert Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum (Loan: Gilbert.444: 1, 2-2008).

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November 4, 2025 1:00 PM GMT
London, United Kingdom

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