TREASURES OF THE TSARS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 98, 24 January 1928, Page 8

TREASURES OF THE TSARS

BOUGHT BY LONDON FIRM SOME HISTORIC JEWELS Dominion Special Service. London, December 1. Eighty wonderful objects of art in ■gold, in precious stones and enamel, formerly Belonging to the Tsar’s family, are now in the strongroom of a Regent Street firm. They have been bought by a dealer from the Soviet Government, and their value is estimated to l)e at least £lOO,OOO. They were first .viewed at a secret dendezvous

outside Russia by experts, who were astonished at their remarkable beauty. Most of these articles were made for the Russian Court by M. Faberge, the Russian Court jeweller, who is now on parole under the Soviet as an expert valuer to the Government. The deal was eventually completed in Paris.

Among the intimate personal possessions of the Russian Royal Family included' in this collection are the following:—Clock in diamonds and enamel, from the private boudoir of the late Tsarina; jewelled casket decorated in fine gold and aquamarine; an exquisite model of a sedan, chair which

belonged to Catherine 11, and showing her robed and seated within (she is carried by two black chairmen, .made of gold, and when 'wound up this piece moves automatically) ; figure of Buddha carved from the largest known piece of emerald; miniatures of the late Tsar’s two daughters, in a pink enamel photograph frame; scent-bottle in crystal, and gold-mounted with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, bearing the initials of Princess Marie Alexis; hand mirror encrusted with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires, given

by the Shah of Persia to the late Tsar (the back is a solid slab of turquoise) ; emerald ring, formerly the property of Peter the Great. One of the strange features of this deal was that the Soviet officials, who had the Russian side of the negotiations in hand, wanted first of all to dispose of them merely from the point of view of photographs. It was some time before consent was obtained for the articles to be brought out of Russia, and for political reasons the place of ’meeting where the treasures were put before the buyers has riot bees di§clps_«L