Silver gilt, enamels; measures 32.5 mm in height incl. eyelet, 30.7 mm in width incl. sword hilts; weighs 9.8 g without the connecting links. Multi-piece layered construction with a high 3-d profile; measuring 6.7 mm thick. The obverse features the cypher of Emperor Peter I on blue enameled background and inscription on the red enameled band "Fiftieth Anniversary of the Peter Poltava Cadet Corps". Near the top is an image of a pelican, a common element of badges of various Russian Cadet Corps' (junior military academies), referring to the medieval legend of a self-sa

Silver gilt, enamels; measures 32.5 mm in height incl. eyelet, 30.7 mm in width incl. sword hilts; weighs 9.8 g without the connecting links. Multi-piece layered construction with a high 3-d profile; measuring 6.7 mm thick. The obverse features the cypher of Emperor Peter I on blue enameled background and inscription on the red enameled band "Fiftieth Anniversary of the Peter Poltava Cadet Corps". Near the top is an image of a pelican, a common element of badges of various Russian Cadet Corps' (junior military academies), referring to the medieval legend of a self-sacrificial pelican feeding its brood with its own blood. The reverse has engraved dates "1840 / 1890" and is inscribed on the band with the name of the recipient and the year of his graduation "A. Tsibylskiy, 1899". There are no hallmarks or maker marks.

Fine to very fine condition. There is a chip and surface rubbing to the blue enamel in the center. The red band is overall well-preserved: it has a few tiny chips along its inner edge, but only one of them, at about 6 o'clock, is visible to the naked eye and just barely at that. The details of the swords, wreath and pelican figure are very crisp, practically perfect on both sides; a good amount of the original gilt finish is present throughout. The eyelet is original and undamaged. The connecting links are a later addition.

Opened in 1840 in Poltava, the place famous for Peter the Great's victory in the Great Northern War over a century prior, the Petrovsko- Poltavskiy Cadet Corps was in large part subsidized by private donations from the nobility in eastern Ukraine. Initially, the school had 400 students, 100 per graduation class; that number rose to nearly 500 by 1911. As of 1913, there had been over 3200 graduates. During the Russian Civil War, the corps relocated to Vladikavkaz and later, to Crimea, where it was absorbed into the Crimean Cadet Corps.

Please note, the penny in our photo is for size reference.
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