Just a heads up, it might be useful to ask the guys in /r/whatisthisthing . They are pretty good with stuffs like this.

I don't know who any of these people are, but in case you haven't figured out all the names yet, I see:

Dr. G. Knigge

Blumer

Weil

Platt (or Plate)

Dr. K. [Daerzt?]

Gethmann

[W] Brügg[e]mann

Ottl[?]

[?][B or R]undfuss

Lotto

[?]otag

If these people are notable, you may want to contact an autograph dealer to get more clarity. David Lowenherz at (http://www.lionheartautographs.com) might be able to refer you to someone.

Can we get some pictures of the inside of the box? It's a fairly generic shape and the inside of a box often determines what it's meant to hold. The lack of a lock means it's probably not jewelry or letters or something of that sort. I see you say it's a cigar box in the album. If so, it's a large one. It was also not meant to be moved, since if it was it would have a latch. Also, if it was meant to be nice it would a lining on the inside. Otherwise, the cigars would tarnish the silver on the inside (and you would see as such if it was used to any significant degree.)

Do you know what the silver was cut with, by chance? A good metallurgist will be able to tell you. I'm speculating, but it's probably German Silver. (Note, this is a type of silver like Sterling Silver, not necessarily literally from Germany. Though it was favored by Germans and, as you said, the box was sent to Germany.) If so, the other 20% will be mostly copper. If it's something else, that will help you narrow it down significantly. (It means they were optimizing for something other than price and strength.)

Commemorative cigar or tobacco boxes where people carved their names were definitely a thing in the time period. But this one looks far more professional than the hand-etched versions you find in (say) British frontline units. It was clearly commissioned as opposed to a bunch of buddies taking a knife and carving names onto their boxes. I will say, there are plenty of examples where soldiers did so without carving their rank. I'm not sure it's directly comparable though. Those were often items carried into combat and this clearly would not work for that. It's too big and lacks a latch.

FYI The Brinckmann signature doesn't match his other known signature.

Fröbisch seems pretty clear to me. It seems to have a restricted geographic relevance. See p. 68. And I'll join others in spotting Dr. G. Knigge and Weil. I think the adjacent signature should be Blümer or perhaps Klümer. There's a contemporary Frieda Klümer from Rostock, who might be your target or at least a relative.

So, I really can't identify most of the names, but following that lead about Albert Brinckmann I found this paper about german art historians involved in the Flamenpolitik. It has many names, including Brinckmann's.

I also found some other names of German intellectuals/scholars/etc that seemed to be a part of Flamenpolitik:

• Dr. R.P. Oszwald
• Joseph Otto Plassmann
• Pius Dirr
• Rudolf Alexmann Schroder
• Hans Friedrich Blunck
• Dr. Konrad Beyerle

And here is a list of all the Belgians that were part of the Raad van Vlaanderen.

Hope it helps and good luck!

I’ve seen a gift very similar to this that was from the signatories (I think Russian oligarchs in exile in Corsica) to an official stationed there who looked after them. It was a token of thanks and came with a scroll of signatures as well.

I only mention this because perhaps this was a one off box and the true owner or their descendants isn’t even listed on the box... or perhaps the two names on the front are significant for that reason.

Rhethmann (Phethmann)

Fobisch

Dr G. Knizze

Weil

M Singgmann

N Br.....fuss

Just a suggestion: the wording is exactly the same as the wording used by Masonic lodges who refer to a meeting as “Arbeit”. I have seen exactly the same sentences before on Masonic memorabilia commemorating specific sessions.

Good luck!