5.5cm (2.1in) x 10cm (3.9in) x 9cm (3.5in)
Silver. George V cigarette box of rectangular form with trapezoid pyramidal form lid truncated to frame a double sided glazed compartment containing a Russian seal impression inscribed ‘Prince Menschikoff’s / Seal’ and to the other side ‘Taken from the Prince’s / Carriage during the / march of the Allied Army / from Alma to Balaclava / September 1854’. Cedar lined interior. Hallmarked London 1926.
The Anglo-French army landed in the Crimea on 14 September 1854. The Russians under Prince Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov were totally defeated at the Battle of the Alma on the 20th, but the Allied failure to follow up allowed Menshikov to retreat in relatively good order to Sevastopol, home of the Black Seas Fleet, where the engineer General Todleben closed the harbour and improved the fortifications.