A cigarette box with the tughra of Sultan Abdulhamid II, the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (r. 1876–1909) set in diamonds adorning the front. The tughra is surrounded by diamond-set foliate scrolls forming the border. The back is engraved with an intricate foliage composition depicting fruits and flowers at the centre. The interior is not ornamented, befitting its function of storing cigarettes. Based on the accompanying note in this box (probably written by a previous owner), this cigarette box was presented by the Ottoman Sultan to Charles Henry Baldwin, an officer in the United States Navy at Istanbul in 1882. Besides Baldwin, the sultan presented cigarette boxes to several noted figures, such as Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, the 7th Marquess of Londonderry and Abdullah Quilliam, a British Muslim who founded England’s first mosque. #archaeohistories
