Preface

In 1985 Edwin Holmes published his second book entitled A History of Thimbles. No other book about thimbles has been as complete or so thoroughly researched. Time has passed since Holmes wrote this book and, in the succeeding years, more information has become available in relation to some of the topics that he addressed.

This site attempts to supplement Holmes in some of those areas where more information has now become available. A series of papers are presented and the related chapters of Holmes, if applicable, are indicated at the bottom of each paper.

Magdalena and William Isbister

Karl Bock (КБ) was an Imperial Court Jeweller in the early 20th century. He had shops in Saint Petersburg and Moscow and made this gold thimble. It is a simple gold thimble with three pear shaped natural rubies set into a special applied floral decoration. It is marked with the maker’s mark (КБ), a woman’s head facing left, 56 and AP (AR) for the assay master Alexander Romanov of St. Petersburg, 1899-1908.