Torah crown, created by silversmith Antoni Riedel (active 1878-1910). Warsaw, Poland, 1884.

Silver, repoussé, engraved and embossed; silver, cast; parcel gilt (maker's mark "A. Riedel", workshop mark (logo), Warsaw city marks, "84" quality mark, and assayer's mark with date "OC 1884" [Osip Sosnkovski]).

Large Torah crown, in a design typical of crowns from Poland and Eastern Europe. With a round base, decorated with dense leaf ornaments, featuring three gilded medallions engraved with a dedication inscription: "Moshe Zvi son of R. Simcha / Pinczowski, from Konin / Year 1884".

Six half-arches decorated with floral patterns extend from the base to the crown's top, which is also adorned with floral patterns and a wide ring with leaf ornaments. Six rampant lions are positioned between the crown's half-arches, and above them are six cast decorations in the shape of deer heads, with rings holding bells in their mouths. Above the large crown is a smaller crown, decorated with six eagles standing on globes with bells, topped by a gilded spherical ornament on which stands a swan with spread wings.

A Jewish community existed in the city of Konin from the 14th century, and for hundreds of years it was administratively subordinate to the Kalisz community. In the late 19th century, about 2,480 Jews lived in Konin.

Height: 34 cm, base diameter: 19.5 cm, maximum width: 30 cm. Good condition.

Only a few crowns made by Riedel are known. For comparison, see: Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item 31584 (collection of the National Museum of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia); J. Greenstein, March 12, 2014, Lot 178.

This crown was likely part of a set, along with the Torah pointer and breastplate sold at Kedem, Jerusalem, May 8, 2024, Lot 43 (these lots match in terms of design, silver marks, and the style of letters engraved on the interchangeable plates of the breastplate).

Spice container. Tlemcen, Algeria, [ca. 1900-1930].

Silver sheet, repoussé, pierced and engraved; silver, cast (unmarked).

A container designed for storing spices for the Havdalah ceremony. Shaped as a hexagonal container with a pointed dome, topped by a flower-like ornament and an upper cast decoration in a symmetrical vegetal pattern characteristic of Islamic art.

The container stands on an additional decoration – matching the upper one at the top – soldered to the hexagonal base. One of the container's facets features a pierced arched opening closed by a hinged door with a locking mechanism (similar to European tower-shaped spice containers). The container and base are decorated with floral patterns and palm designs (hamsas). Two gilded bells hang on hooks fixed to the upper part of the container.

Two engraved inscriptions serve as indication to the container's origin and owner: on the upper margins, "…Moshe / di / Yaakov / Levy…", and on the lower margins – "Handmade by / the craftsman Yehia / Faruz / and Makhluf ben / Hamu / Tlemcen".

This container – likely created as a private commission – beautifully reflects the typical silversmith work of North African Jews. It is reminiscent in its shape and decorations of Jewish ceremonial objects from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, especially Torah finials and crowns. However, it represents a unique and possibly singular example of an Algerian spice container, as in Middle Eastern countries, spices used for Havdalah were abundant, eliminating the need to preserve them for reuse in dedicated containers, as was customary in European countries.
The name of the silversmith Yaya Farouz of Tlemcen is mentioned in Paul Eudel's L'orfèvrerie Algérienne et Tunisienne (Alger, 1902, p. 430); According to online genealogical records Farouz passed away in 1936, a fact that helps dating this item to the very first decades of the 20th century. 

Height: 31.5 cm, base width: 8.5 cm. Overall good condition.

Passover Haggadah and Seder Sefirat HaOmer. Manuscript on parchment, work of scribe and illustrator Chaim Leib Beinhocker. Place and date not specified, [likely first half of the 20th century]. Bound in a magnificent silver binding, with the Fiorentini family crest. Rome, presumably 19th century (1815-1870).

Ink and paint on parchment; silk fabric; silver, repoussé and engraved (twice stamped with the emblem of Rome and a maker's mark – A70G (?) in a lozenge-shaped frame).

Manuscript on parchment. Miniature format. Written in black ink in Ashkenazi square script, without vocalization. All pages are framed in a rectangular border in pink ink. Accompanied by 87 color illustrations. Text: Leaves [1]-[55a] – Passover Haggadah; Leaves [55b]-[69a] – Seder Sefirat HaOmer.

The manuscript opens with an architectural title page featuring the figures of Moses and Aaron, where the names of the scribe and the patron for whom the manuscript was created appear: "Passover Haggadah / with fine illustrations / collected from / old Haggadot… I / the humble Chaim Leib / Beinhocker in honor of… Rabbi / Yekutiel Fischhof" (we were unable to identify these figures).

In addition to the illustration on the title page, 86 more color illustrations are integrated throughout the manuscript, depicting the Haggadah story as well as Lag BaOmer and Shavuot – most are miniatures (the smallest measures 4X2.5 cm, and the largest 8x5 cm) – as well as initial words adorned with gold, with tiny illustrations.

Although created during the 20th century, it appears that the creator of this manuscript was influenced by the tradition of 18th-century European illustrated manuscripts, especially those of the "Moravian School". However, while most 18th-century manuscripts base their illustrations on the "Amsterdam Haggadah" (Amsterdam, 1695), this manuscript's illustrations are based on the woodcuts of the "Venice Haggadah" first printed in Venice in 1609.

The silver binding is identically decorated on both sides with floral patterns centered around the Fiorentini family crest – a bent arm holding a wreath with three flowers – topped by a crown-shaped ornament. This family originated in Tuscany and has lived in Rome since the 16th century. Among its famous members are the poet Salomone Fiorentino, and several military figures who fought during the 19th and 20th centuries. For more information about this family, see: Elivo Giuditta, Araldica Ebraica in Italia. [Torino]: Società Italiana di Studi Araldici, 2007, p. 179.

For another binding by the same silversmith (dated ca. 1830), see: Sotheby's, December 20, 2017, Lot 80.

[69] leaves + [3] blank parchment leaves at the end of the volume. 9X6 cm. Overall good condition. Some stains. Creases in several leaves. Silver binding: 9.7 cm, with doublures covered in dark purple silk fabric (slightly frayed at the edges).

Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, December 19, 2012, Lot 125.

Manuscript, machzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, according to the Apam (Asti-Fossano-Moncalvo) rite. Asti, [1776].

Title page decorated with frame: "Order of prayers, piyyutim and krovetz for high holidays according to the rite of… our French rabbis…". The bottom part of the title page names the woman for whom the machzor was scribed, as well as the location and date of writing: "Written at the behest of the honorable and modest Mrs. Keila Chanah Treves, wife of R. Yehoshua Chai Montalcina… in Asti, [1776]". Below this is written (as customary in printed books): "Con Licenza del Divino Superiore".

Signature of owner on front endpaper: "My portion by lot, Adar 1828, Moshe son of R. Yehoshua Chai Montalcini".

[1], 94, [4] leaves. 26 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, including dark stains. Wear and tears. Several leaves detached. Leather binding, with metal clasp. Tears and damage to binding.

A booklet is added (4 written pages) with the Kedushah prayer for Musaf, in another hand.

Provenance: Collection of Rabbi Prof. Eliyah Shmuel Hartom, Jerusalem.

The Apam Rite

"Apam" is an acronym for the communities of Asti, Fossano, and Moncalvo. All three communities were established by Jewish exiles from France who settled in the Piedmont region of Italy after being expelled from France in the 14th century. Once in Italy, most Jewish émigrés from France adopted the customs and traditions of the communities that absorbed them, and only these three communities clung to the French traditions they arrived with, thus preserving the ancient French rite. The French rite resembles the Ashkenazic rite, but differs from it both in its own particular versions of some of the prayers, and in the distinctive piyyutim that are peculiar to it. Siddurim associated with the Apam rite were never printed, and they survive only in manuscript form (on the Apam rite see: Zunz, Rites of Synagogue Liturgy, Breuer-Fraenkel Hebrew translation, Jerusalem 2016, pp. 64-65; Goldschmidt, Leket Shichchah UPeah LeMachzor Apam, Kiryat Sefer XXX, Jerusalem 1955, pp. 118-136).

The present machzor preserves the piyyutim and distinctive liturgy of the Apam rite, including a unique version of Kol Nidrei, the piyyut Eten Tehilah introducing the Avodah prayer, and more.