Vintage Greek Evzone Enamel and Brass Bottle Opener

A charming vintage souvenir bottle opener from Greece, shaped like an Evzone guard with his arms raised overhead to form the opener's loop. It's cut from brass and filled with bright enamel: a red fez-style cap with a tassel, a dark red waistcoat over a white shirt with wide sleeves, the famous pleated white fustanella kilt, white stockings with black garters, and red tsarouchia shoes with big pompoms. The back is plain brass with an engraved pattern of the same figure. It's a fun piece for a bar cart, and it's in good vintage condition with light age wear.

The Evzones are the elite Presidential Guard who stand watch at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens. Their uniform comes from the fighters of the 1821 Greek War of Independence. Tradition holds that the fustanella has 400 pleats, one for each year Greece spent under Ottoman rule.