Coco Chanel & Vera Lombardy Sterling Silver Cigarette Case

Cigarette case offered by Vera Lombardi. Engraved on the inside: With many thanks / Vera lombardi / 1930 Sterling Silver & Vermeil Inside Punches: ML; 900 On top: enamelled coat of arms, Italian cavalry school with the motto: NON RESTARE. A few claws and small shots of use. L. 13 cm; width. 7.9 cm; weight: 204 grams Vera Bate LOMBARDI (1883-1948), born Vera Nina Arkwright, she also used the name Sarah Gertrude Arkwright. She would be an illegitimate daughter of Prince Adolphe, Duke of Teck and Marquis of Cambridge, younger brother of Queen Mary of England. Vera Lombardi was very close to Coco Chanel. A British citizen by birth, she became an American citizen after her first marriage, then Italian after her second marriage. Suspected of espionage for the British during the Second World War, she was arrested in Italy in 1943. After her release, she went to Madrid where she denounced Coco Chanel for collaboration with the Nazis.