The collar of the uniform of an officer of the Main Engineering Department (?)

During the general reform of the supreme military administration in the 1860s - 1870s, the departments of the Ministry of War that had existed since the beginning of the 19th century were replaced by the so–called Main Departments, each of which was responsible for a certain range of issues. In order to emphasize the high position of the officers who served in the new structures, they were given army-type uniforms, but with guards-style collars (open in front, with beveled edges). Along the edge of the collar, a wide smooth stripe (the so–called side) was embroidered with gold or silver piping, and below it, at the front ends of the collar, two simple straight buttonholes. The colors of the collars and the metal equipment of the uniforms corresponded to the specifics of the activities of a particular department. 

The ranks of the Main Engineering Directorate, renamed the Main Military Technical Directorate in 1913, were given the colors traditional for engineering troops: black velvet collar and cuffs, red edging on the top and bottom of the collar and on the top of the cuffs, silver metal device. Uniforms of the same color, but without red edging at the bottom of the collar, were assigned in 1906 to the ranks of the Main Directorate of the General Staff, which was in charge of military strategy and planning. Judging by the ratio of the height and length of the collar, it was made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.