Russian Lacquered Box
Q: Several years ago a friend gave me this lacquered box at my retirement party. She told me her mother-in-law had sold one similar to it in her antiques store for $600. I’m getting on in years and I’m trying to get things settled for my children. I told them not to sell all my stuff in a garage sale, because some of it has value. The box is 2 3/4 by 3 3/4 inches and is 1 3/4 inches high. These Russian words are on the bottom. Can you tell me something about the box, including its possible value?
A: Russian lacquered boxes were first made in 1795 in Fedoskino, a town near Moscow, and are still made in Fedoskino and other towns. The process of making the boxes takes several weeks. The shape is formed from papier-mache made from strips of cardboard and a flour-and-water paste. After the papier-mache has dried for over a month, it’s coated with a primer and then with a base coat of colored lacquer. Most boxes are black on the outside and red on the inside. The picture on the top of the box is painted by an artist and finished with several coats of clear lacquer. The subject, intricacy, and quality of the painting help determine value. Russian lacquered boxes made before 1917 usually sell for high prices. Most boxes picturing peasants or fairy tale scenes were made for export from the 1960s to 1980s and sell for low prices. Lacquered boxes were also made as souvenirs to be sold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The Russian words on the bottom of your box say “Moscow Olympiad – 80.” A box like yours, made for the 1980 Olympics, sold a few years ago for $35.
Photo credit: liveauctioneers.com
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TROU (with a back slash in it)KA, is for TROIKA; a 3-horse-drawn sleigh. (A troika can also refer to a group of 3 people.) I have no idea what the upper word might be. Here is a link: Find the cursive letter, then the printed version next to it, and then translate to English sounds. You can then ask the web for a translation of the word. Or maybe it’s not Russian? thttps://www.google.com/search?q=russian+alphabet+chart&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=hKbeU7HkLYGHyATjroKwBg&ved=0CBwQsAQ&. Good luck!
I love the Russian Lacquered boxes. We have one that we inherited from my husband’s mother. It has a very detailed and intricate scene of a winter scape with four people in a horse drawn sleigh with lots of tiny people, buildings and horse drawn sleighs in the background. The horses pulling the sleigh in the foreground (3 of them) are painted in magnificent detail. In the upper left corner is something written in cursive gold lettering, that says F (or T) argo (I think). Hard to read. Then in the lower left corner is printing that says Tpowko ? also hard to read. Inthe lower right corner is the name of the artist, A.Coiloa 08. The color may be slightly faded. My husband keeps it on his desk to hold his paperclips.
Thanks so much for submitting this. I have the exact same box. I got it at an estate auction for $5. I think it is really pretty.