Swedish Silver Cigarette Case with Enamel Portrait Plaque

A Swedish silver cigarette case, once the property of the big game hunter and Kenyan safari guide Krister Aschan. The front engraved with his name, above an enamel oval portrait plaque of a young beauty (Irene) after an original painting by Angelo Asti. The gold plated interior with numerous facsimile signatures of friends, many women. Aschan was a contemporary of the Swedish Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke and his wife Karen Blixen, the author of 'Out of Africa'. Aschan's son Ulf was Blixen-Finecke's godson and biographer (The Man Whom Women Loved). Hallmarked on the push clasp for 1919. 3.74 in. x 3.15 in.