3rd class cross with swords.
Gold, enamel.
Marked with St. Petersburg assay office mark "alpha, female head in a kokoshnik, to the right, 56" and maker's mark "БК/BK".
Gold, enamel.
Marked with St. Petersburg assay office mark "alpha, female head in a kokoshnik, to the right, 56" and maker's mark "БК/BK".
Cross was privately-comissioned by Michael Ivanovich Kustoff.
Born in 1897, Kustoff was an officer in the Kuban Cossack Army. Fleeing the outcome of the Revolution, he arrived in the U.S. in 1919 and applied for naturalization in San Diego in 1920. He apparently suffered severe tribulations (kidnap and torture according to his personal account) when he tried to practice law in California in 1920’s. Kustoff studied law at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and went on to be admitted to the State Bar of Texas. He died in 1964 and is buried in the Serbian Cemetery, Galveston TX.
Born in 1897, Kustoff was an officer in the Kuban Cossack Army. Fleeing the outcome of the Revolution, he arrived in the U.S. in 1919 and applied for naturalization in San Diego in 1920. He apparently suffered severe tribulations (kidnap and torture according to his personal account) when he tried to practice law in California in 1920’s. Kustoff studied law at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and went on to be admitted to the State Bar of Texas. He died in 1964 and is buried in the Serbian Cemetery, Galveston TX.