Called a Besamin box, this item is designed to hold the aromatic spices used in the Jewish Havdalah ceremony. This ceremony marks the end of the Shabbat .(the seventh day of the week ,reserved for rest and prayers). in this ceremony ,the spices are passed around during the service to comfort and soothe the congregation , readying them for the next working week.
This is a rare early 1865 Russian made fine filigree HOUSE made of high quality 88 zolotniki Russian silver .Russian Filigree is very delicate and made from fine silver wires , which have been twisted to form delicate pierced patterns .The box is fully hallmarked ,with the Assayer's Mark B C /1865 which i believe to be Viktor or (Veniamin) Vasilyevich Savinsky of Moscow between 1859-1894 .A silver standard mark of 88 which is very high quality silver normally reserved for higher quality work . The other mark i believe is in Cyrillic so i'm not sure as i can't interpret Cyrillic...The weight is 75 grams .
The box is delicate and in as found untouched condition so please look at all photos to evaluate for yourself ; keeping in mind how delicate and rare this item is .