Large Silver Torah Crown – Algeria, Likely Constantine, 1886 – Signed by Silversmith Moshe Son of Sa'id

Large Torah crown by silversmith Moshe son of Sa'id. Algeria, likely Constantine. Inscription dated 1886.

Silver, cast and engraved (unmarked).

A large, heavy crown intended for a Torah case. Composed of 13 articulated silver segments, joined with pins and hinges. Twelve of the segments are identically designed, while one – divided into two halves and serving as the clasp – is slightly different.

Each segment is adorned with cast appliques: pointed arches with trefoil motifs, framing a flowerpot with blooming flowers; surmounted by a balustrade-like ornament and a grille-like element with symmetrical vegetal design. The clasp segment features engraved inscriptions in place of the flowerpot motif, and two flower-shaped ornaments affixed at the base of the arch.

A long dedicatory inscription, engraved and partly repoussé, spans the full width of the crown:

"… This crown for a Torah scroll / was made by the gizbbarim / of the synagogue of / R. Nathan Toubiani… Nissim Nakash… Moshe son of Sa'id… Shlomo Doukhan… Mordechai Malchi… Chaim Tzabach and his sons Yitzchak Tzabach / and Avraham Hasson and David son of Sa'id…".

The left clasp is engraved with the maker's signature: "Crafted by the artisan R. Moshe son of Sa'id… 1886, Rosh Chodesh Sivan 5646". The segments are numbered with punched dots on the reverse.

For a similar Torah crown by Moshe son of Sa'id, see: Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item 40919 (Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv). For another similar example, see: Sotheby’s, December 19, 2007, Lot 96.

Height: 19.5 cm. Length: 110 cm. Good condition. One cast ornament missing. Additional ornaments apparently missing from the tops of some hinges (one surviving). Some connecting rods not original.