A leather cigar box with silver and enamel mounts.

On the occasion of his State Visit to Russia in 1902, Émile Loubet was lavished with a number of gifts, the grandest of which were photographed for a two-page article in the journal Niva (illustrated, U. Tillander-Godenhielm, The Russian Imperial Award System, 1894-1917, Helsinki, 2005, pp. 336-337). Two years before the visit he had been created a Knight of the Order of St Andrew, having already been made a Knight of the Order of St Alexander Nevsky in 1896. In reciprocation of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna's State Visit to Paris these gifts were no doubt made in recognition of Loubet's capabilities as an international peacemaker and were symbolic of the trade which would flourish as a result.

The firm of Saatchi & Mangoubi, founded in 1868 and designated Purveyor to the Imperial Court in 1895, were perhaps not courting the French President's favour so much as they were him. They had been given the right to sell their products in France in 1894, a market which proved highly successful for them. They had also won a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exhibition.