concept
Merchant guild rank (second guild)
second-guild merchant
also: второй гильдии купец, second guild
Imperial Russia ranked merchants into guilds by capital and trading privileges; "second guild" signaled solid but not top-tier mercantile standing, the sort of detail a small-item newspaper report would include for precision.
Reading notes
- Joy §25 second-guild Moscow merchant
Imperial Russian merchants were ranked into guilds by capital; "second guild" denotes solid, if not top-tier, mercantile standing, another flourish of the report's exactness.
- A Fairground "Total" §1 merchant of the first guild
Imperial Russia ranked merchants into guilds by declared capital; "first guild" was the highest tier, permitting wholesale and foreign trade -- the sketch's joke depends on this being a man of real standing, not a petty trader.