Faberge Gold Plated Letter Opener w/French Bulldog Dog Handle With Diamonds Enam

Description

This very rare and amazing letter opener is by Faberge the famous jeweler of the Imperial Russian family.
I was so excited to have acquired this beautiful piece and learn that there was a connection to the Romanov family and French Bulldogs.
A relative did indeed breed them and Czar Nicholas II had a young daughter who owned one named Ortipo.
The total length of the opener is 7 inches with the crown the widest part at 7/8 inches.
The brass blade has the Faberge mark in Cyrillic and a lovely etched decoration on one side.
Both sides of the blade have a beautiful arabesque ornament set with 16 rose cut tested diamonds with a tassel and ruby stone.
A crown forms the cross guard and above that is a lovely red guilloche enamel cylindrical handle.
A handsome French Bulldog is the pommel his eyes also set with rose cut diamonds and wearing a collar with pink stone tag.
I believe the dog is gold gilt over silver as I have owned just the bulldog once and it was silver.
Testing would have to remove the gilt and I don’t want to do that.
The ornate drum base the dog is sitting on does acid test sterling silver.
My research could not find this particular letter opener but I did find two different ones and the pommels were silver.
It has its original fitted silk and velvet lined box with the Faberge St. Petersburg mark.
The box shows some light wear to the outside and inside the silk has some tears on the hinge and light soiling to the velvet but how wonderful to have the original box and latch works well.
I estimate this piece dates to the first half of the 20th century around 1930 - 40 or older.
It is in wonderful used condition with patina and obviously cared for.
There is a little bit of green age verdigris to some edges of the ornament scrolls on one side.
The crown is a little bit offset on one side but very secure.
Please see all photos for condition.