Page 910 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

YKC card cases are often a mix of silver and parcel gilded silver; sometimes they are entirely parcel gilded or
occasionally, partial enamel work is incorporated.

Chinese Export Silver is populated with many silver filigree card cases. Many, sadly, are modern “fakes” and are
identifiable by the fact they will never have the multi-layering that YKC cases have and the filigree work itself will
not be as intricate.

YKC is considered the master-filigree house unless the case is proven to be from Khe Cheong or Cutshing, but
even then, it is likely to be a YKC item for either of the two retail silversmiths.

The previously mentioned research is also intended to verify whether the Chinese silver filigree items of the
17th and 18th centuries such as the silver gilt filigree boxes in the form of crabs [following illustration] have any
connection with the YKC mark. We do know that Cutshing supplied some of the items that are now in the
collection of Chinese filigree silver in the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg - probably the largest and
most significant single collection in the world. Similarly, we know that some of the larger filigree items in the
same collection carry the Pao Ying mark, also an early Canton retail silversmith.