Discussions about Russian History > Imperial Russian Antiques
Romanov Items/Souvenirs that You Own
Almedingen:
I thought it would be interesting for everyone to tell about the Romanov antiques/souvenirs that they own.
When I was in St. Petersburg back in 1995, I was in a book store/antique store and I told them that I was interested in anything they had on the Romanovs. You can imagine my astonishment when they brought out a coronation book for Nicholas and Alexandra. The book is a small, paper, pamphlet-type of book about 20 pages in length and conains many rare photos of all the members of the royal family at the time of the coronation.
Bob, if you want me to scan this in so we can put it on your website, let me know. I think people would enjoy looking at it. :)
RobMoshein:
I am fortunate to have a few interesting items.
The first is a pristine copy of the actual program for the wedding of Nicholas and Alexandra. This program was not a souvenir item per se, as it was intended for use by those attending the wedding itself. It is a deep red leather binder with the Imperial Eagle embossed in gold outside, and lined in light blue moire silk. Inside, in French and Russian, is a detailed schedule of the events of the wedding, telling participants where to gather, the order of procession, the exact events of the day in chronological order, and the order of reception of guests afterwards and where guests were to wait to be received. You can read my translation of the French section here:
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/wedding/
The second item is an original program from the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow from the night of Nicholas II's Coronation command performance of "La Vie Pour La Tsar" and "La Perle". It is a white leather binder with a beautiful full color Imperial Eagle embossed on the outside, and again lined in moire silk, with a red silk ribbon place marker. It is filled with beautiful lithograph engravings by leading artists of the day.
I also have two original menus from the Coronation festivities, a dinner menu from the first night, and a supper menu from the last night, both again with oustanding lithograph engravings. The first night menu is in a Pan Slavic Gothic revival style, the other is a rather "Victorian" rendering of Moscow and the Kremlin.
Forum Admin:
Both Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodrovna kept a book in which they recorded every piece of jewelry they owned, including the date and place they got it and from whom. His jewel book has been published, so if your cross is indeed recorded in the book, it was likely to have been his. If not, it would otherwise be very difficult to establish a genuine provenance for the piece.
Almedingen:
Konstantin,
I'd like to hear more of your stories.
Robert_Hall:
The jewel book should not be too hard to find. I have seen it in used book stores, remainder shelves and plenty of web sites [amazon, bookfinders, half.com,etc.
Also, I would like to read more stories of your grandfather's adventurs as a diplomat in the Soviet era. Fascinating.
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