I have two pieces of jewlery that were purchased in SanFrancisco in the late 1930's. They were engagement presents to my grandmother from her second husband. She told me that they were bought from a "very good jewelry dealer" and were part of a vast collection of semi-precious jewelry once owned by Alexandra and/or the Grand Duchesses. The jewelry was sold off to dealers by the Revolutionary government. Anyway that is what she believed but she also said to me that the "grain of salt" was that lots of things were sold by dealers at that time with the same story. I had the peices looked at by someone at Samuels jewelery in San Francisco and he verified that they are from the correct era and definitly European, not American. One is a ring, an emerald cut garnet in a simple but high-carat gold setting. The other piece is a necklace, a cross made of round garnets in an "invisible" setting. It is very delicate and I don't wear it but I wear the ring all the time, mostly in memeory of my grandmother (she raised me) but I do admit that I love the legend behind them and it is fun to believe that they once belonged to the Imperial Family. Just thought I'd share the story . . .
