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Here is a very interesting antique cased set of porcelain and gilt silver coffee - tea cups in their own presentation box.

This is a UNIQUE set ..there are no more exactly like these.

They can be known as ZARF cups in the Ottoman Empire.

A wedding gift from the Sultan Abdul Hamid II to a man called CECIL CRABTREE of Bradford England.. he was in the Wool Cloth Industry having a Mill company there.
He was in or attached to the British Military Intelligence Service as well during World War I and obviously did work for the Sultan or knew the family or similar...anyway you will see the CC monogram on the gilt silver cups for Cecil Crabtree....thinking about this.
He was given this set whilst in Constantinople and probably BEFORE 1909 as the Sultan was deposed then. 

So the box first... as you can see its a red plush velevet like material covered box.. with a single brass clasp to the front.. and a GILT badge on the top.. this is very worn off but I can see its the OTTOMAN - TURKISH coat of arms....the red velvet is worn on the corners and edges and it has been opened a number of times in its life I am sure. open the lid to find the hinges are loos and have a sewing pin in them now....the box is 9 inch x 8 inch x 3 inch deep.
Inside the box you see a pale blue silk material under the lid as well as behind the 6 inset coffee Zarf cups.
The 6 coffee - tea cups are porcelain and gilt silver mounted.
2 of the 6 porcelain cups are cracked and re-glued in antiquity not recent.
These little coffee cups do not have handles.. they look like small tea bowls...and they sit in the gilt silver mounts.......  are fine white porcelain with fine bands of gold lines on them only... looking at the base each has an orange makers mark .. this is RUSSIAN and these are Russian made cups.

From a letter which is with the set it says these cups were made in St Petersburg at the Kuznetzov factory.
They were probably made to fit these little gilt silver cup holders for this special occasion.

The gilt silver holders are very fine.. the gilding is coming off in places and are fine engraved with three main pictures.
The Ottoman Turkish COAT OF ARMS then a small STAR then the TUGRA - TUGHRAS mark of the Sultan ABDUL HAMID II 1876 - 1909 ..... and another STAR then a fancy foliage CARTOUCHE .. in the centre of this are two initials CC....for Cecil Crabtree of Bradford England.

These little gilt silver cups are also stamp punch marked like hallmarks but again they are the official Sultan Abdul Hamid II SEAL marks from when he was the Sultan - Monarch - King if you like from 1876 - 1909.

This mark is a calligraphy monogram of the Sultan and can be found on coinage for example. 

Well you will see the Sultan Tugra marks on the rim edge of the silver gilt mounts as well as a single mark on the pedestal foot as well...like with all such marks some are better and easier to see than others.
The silver gilt mounts hold the little porcelain cups and they do look well....remember 2 cups are cracked and re-glued ..but at least they are still with the set and not thrown out.
A porcelain cup is 2 and a 1/4 inch top rim dia x 3/4 inch bottom foot tim dia x 1 and 1/2 inch tall.
The gilt silver mounts are nearly 2 and a 1/4 inch top rim dia x 1 inch pedestal foot base rim dia x 1 and 7/8ths inch tall ... the gilt silver mounts weigh about 26 grams each and collective they weigh 156.6grams...they are far too good to be melted down !

With a porcelain cup in situ they stand about 2 and a 1/4 inch tall.. they do vary slightly.    

So lets now talk about the bits of paper that come with the coffee set.
Both are typed out... a Description of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II from a book "Memoirs" of Opper De Blowitz " Times " Journalist. First interview ever granted to a journalist by this Sultan.... 18 lines then 'Orient Express' by E. H. Cookridge.
Another bit of paper about the how the cups are in the possession of the last owner etc....written in 2010.
I think the CECIL CRABTREE bit wants researching a little more to find out if he was in the British Military Intelligence Service or if he was a friend of the Sultan etc.. he may have been there selling him some cloth... its all very interesting though and the ZARF cups are really good with the Sultan Abdul Hamid II own seal on them etc.
   
You may want to copy and paste some of these websites from google as this is a most interesting set of Zarf cups.
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Abdul_Hamid_II
or
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Hamid_II​
or

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tughra
or

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sultans_of_the_Ottoman_Empire
or

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarf
or

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Blowitz
or
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Opper_de_Blowitz
or
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_the_Damned



 See close up pictures for more details and condition.
  See the photographs which enlarge.

Please see close up pictures for more detail. 

   The item(s) are shown next to an English 1 penny which is 20mm dia for scale.

Conversion ... approx... 2.5cm = 25mm = 1 inch 

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