A button from the uniform of a student of the Petrovsky College of the St. Petersburg Merchant Society

Steel, gilding. An original and very rare button in excellent collectible condition. The diameter is 21 mm. Guarantee of authenticity.

Petrovsky Commercial College is a secondary educational institution in St. Petersburg. It was opened in 1880 at the expense of the St. Petersburg merchants, closed in 1918. In 1872, when the 200th anniversary of the birth of Peter I was celebrated, the St. Petersburg merchants decided to establish a commercial school at their own expense and decided to allocate 10 thousand rubles annually for 8 years. to generate the necessary funds for the opening of this educational institution. The school was opened on October 1, 1880.

According to the Charter, children from the merchant class or former merchants were supposed to be admitted to the school at least 9 years old and no older than 12 years old, and until 1898 this rule was strictly observed. The school provided its students with general secondary and commercial education for trade and industrial activities. In the first year, 129 students were accepted. The training lasted eight years. Six years of general education and the last two years, with general education, special subjects were studied. In addition, three foreign languages were studied. The school had 8 classes: 1 preparatory, 5 general education and 2 special. According to the Charter of the commercial school, the main role in the management of the educational institution was performed by the Board of Trustees, which consisted of the chairman, his comrade, 5 representatives of the capital's merchants, the director of the school, the secretary and the inspector. The first director of the school until 1897 was I. F. Rashevsky.

On May 30, 1885, on the birthday of Peter I, in whose honor the school was named "Petrovsky", the 1st graduation of students was held. By this time, it was already located on the Fontanka Embankment, in house No. 62. After the death of I. F. Rashevsky, A. M. Vasiliev was invited as director, who was replaced in 1901 by R. O. Lange.

In 1900, the school was awarded a gold medal at the World's Fair in Paris for achievements in the education and training of students.

At the beginning of the XX century, in connection with the approval of a new Regulation on commercial schools, it became necessary to change the charter of the Petrovsky School. By this time, the Commercial School had already switched from a seven-year to an eight-year education. On May 28, 1902, the Minister of Finance approved the new Charter of the school, which was worked out jointly by the Board of Trustees and the Pedagogical Committee. The rules for the admission of students were established and their rights were determined when enrolling in other educational institutions at the end of the course, for service, while serving military service. As a result, the social composition of students has become very diverse: nobles, burghers, people from families of the clergy, merchant families and peasants, foreign citizens. Graduates of the college who graduated with an excellent certificate received the title of a personal honorary citizen, if they did not belong to a higher rank by birth (hereditary honorary citizen).