Alms box, made by David Gottlieb Raudner. Breslau, Germany (today Wrocław, Poland), ca. 1813-1816.
Silver, engraved, repoussé, cut, and stamped (marked with Breslau city mark; year mark, the letter "O" [1813-1816]; and with maker’s mark, the initials "DG/R" in leaf-shaped frame = David Gottlieb Raudner).
Cylindrical alms box, shaped like a small jug. At the top is a graduated lid, attached by a hinge, and with a broad, elevated coin slot. Locking mechanism, attached to lid, also by a hinge. Long, curving carrying handle. Box stamped with recurrent vegetal and geometric patterns on upper and lower borders and on handle, and engraved with a floral wreath on lower body. Also engraved with inscription (Hebrew) ascribing ownership to the synagogue of Piotrków Trybunalski, central Poland: "This charity belongs / to the managers of the synagogue / here in the holy congregation [of] / Piotrków". A steadily growing Jewish community existed in Piotrków for centuries, coming to an end only with the Second World War. The small city’s "Great Synagogue" was founded in 1793 and renovated following WWII, and is today regarded as the best-preserved of all surviving Jewish houses of worship in the Łódź region.
The silversmith David Gottlieb Raudner was active in Breslau, Germany in the years 1793-1845. He mostly produced tabletop items (candlesticks, teapots, salt shakers, and the like); no other Jewish objects of his are known to us.
Height: 15 cm. Maximal width: 15 cm. Diameter at base: 8 cm. Weight: 379 g. Overall good condition. Hinge broken and partly missing. Old soldering repairs to upper attachment of handle. Minor warping. Missing chains next to upper coin slot.
Reference: Erwin Hintze, Die Breslauer Goldschmiede: eine archivalische Studie, Breslau: Kommissionsverlag von K.W. Hiersemann in Leipzig, 1906 (German), Nos. 24, 43, 176.
Provenance: Collection of Sir Isaac Wolfson, Hechal Shlomo Museum. Serial number, indicated in marker, at bottom: H.S. 1368-46/6. Documented in Hechal Shlomo Museum catalogue, Yehuda L. Bailer and Estelle Fink, eds., Jewish Life in Art and Tradition, Hechal Shlomo, Jerusalem, 1980, p. 94.
