MARK OF IVAN SALTYKOV OVERSTRUCK BY MARK OF KARL FABERGE ACTING AS RETAILER, MOSCOW, 1896

Bought in Russia by John Sampson, a director of John Brown, the Glasgow firm of shipbuilders, who, as a talented linguist, was a lead negotiator for the contract to build a number of battleships for the Imperial Russian Navy in the early 20th century and thence by descent to the present vendor, Sampson's great great granddaughter.