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Treasure hunting with direct-arrival transmission imaging	943
Stonehenge	661
The Industrial Role of Copper at Jamestown	633
Origins of Oysters at James Fort	600
Archaeology assessor's kit	584
Projectile Points from Jamestown	579
Magnetism - The First Records	544
Arlington Report	538

[Bart]

1886-1896 Spring Flowers Egg or Windflowers Egg

various color gold, platinum, enamel, diamonds, rock cristal, pearls, bowenite, white agate

Dimensions 3"1/4 (8,3 cm)



   Possibly made in 1890, its origin is uncertain. This egg is smaller than the later, more opulent Faberge eggs. Crafted in the Louis XV style, the golden, engraved shell is enamelled strawberry-red over a giulloch? (1) background, and encased in a rococo style golden cage. A band of rose diamonds encircles the egg from bottom to top, terminating in a diamond-set clasp. The base, of pale green bowenite, is also encircled with a band of rose diamonds and rests on a base of scrollwork executed in gold. It is attached to the egg by means of a short golden pedestal.



   After eighty years of exile the collection has been returned home thanks to Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg, Chairman of board of directors of Open Society "Sual-holding" who has purchased it from successors to Malcolm Forbes and has made it accessible to the Russian citizens. Sale of the Forbes' collection from Sotheby's auction in the beginning of 2004 could make objects channel off in separate collections and countries. Purchasing of the whole collection by V. Vekselberg before the advertised bidding has become unprecedented in auction practice.

   Inside, the surprise is a platinum basket of spring flowers, 1"1/2 in height. The bouquet of windflowers, or wood anemones, was created with white chalcedony petals with demantoid garnet centers and engraved gold stems. The blossoms are accompanied by enamelled green petals. The basket is made of wrought platinum set with rose diamonds. It rests upon a small gold pedestal inside the egg. A quite similar basket was made for the 1913 egg - the Imperial Winter Egg.

[Bart]

1893 Caucasus Egg

Presented by Alexander III to Czarina Maria Fyodorovna

gold, silver, enamel, diamonds, platinum, ivory, pearls, rock crystal

height 9,2 cm (3"5/8) 

   When Nicholas' younger brother, Grand Duke Georgii Alexandrovich (1871-1899), was stricken with tuberculosis (he would die within six years), he took up residence in the Imperial hunting lodge at Abastuman, where the climate was better for his health.

   This egg is decorated with four ivory miniatures showing views of the mountain retreat high in the Caucasus where the Grand Duke spent the greater part of his life. Behind the hinged cover at the top of the egg is a portrait of the Grand Duke in his naval uniform.



   Varicolored gold garlands held by diamond bow-knots mount this gold egg, overload with vibrant ruby enamel on a guilloche (1) under surface. An extraordinary table-top diamond, gem-encircled, crowns the object; another completes the base.

   The miniatures, watercolor on ivory, executed and signed by Krijitski, depicting views of Grand Duke Georg's mountain retreat high in the Caucasus, are revealed on opening the four pearl-bordered doors around the egg. Each of these doors bears a diamond-set numeral of the year, the four forming the year 1893. Behind the hinged cover at the top of the egg is a portrait of the Grand Duke in his naval uniform.

The stand was made later.

[Bart]

1895 Twelve Monograms, or Silver Anniversary Egg, or Twelve Panels Egg

Presented by Nicholas II to Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna

gold, diamonds, enamel

height 7,9 cm

   In 1885, Alexander III initiated the custom of presenting his wife Maria Fedorovna with a Faberg? egg each Easter. Beginning with this particular egg, Nicholas II continued the family tradition.



   After the death of Alexander III, in the short time remaining before the Easter holiday in 1895, Faberg? had not only to rework the egg that had originally been planned for Maria prior to her husband's death, but also to create an appropriate egg for Alexandra. The Twelve Monograms egg was the first Faberg? egg given by Czar Nicholas to his mother. Featuring in diamonds the royal insignia of Czar Alexander III set against a deep blue enamel background, Faberg?'s understated creation was a fitting tribute for the mourning Dowager Empress.

   The upper and lower halves of the egg are each divided into six panels by rows of diamonds. Each panel contains a cyrillic cipher of Alexander III and Maria Fedorovna, set and crowned in diamonds, which provide a simple yet elegant decoration against the dark blue enamel with a design of red gold. The egg was a gift for Czar Alexander III's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

   Only under high magnification is it possible to notice the champlev? enamel technique. Areas for the enamel were carved out of the gold, leaving the thin red-gold ribs that form the foliate design. To the naked eye, it appears that the gold design was painted on the ovoid surface.

   The Egg opens to reveal a velvet lining for the surprise, which is now lost.

[Bart]

1890 Danish Palaces Egg

Presented by Alexander III to Czarina Maria Fyodorovna

gold, enamel, diamond, sapphire, emerald, velvet lining

Height: 10,2 cm (4"1/2)

   A star sapphire within a cluster of rose diamonds and chased gold laurel leaves surmounts this trois-couleur gold egg which is enameled a translucent pink on a guilloche (1) pattern of repeated stars. The egg is divided into twelve panels by broad bands consisting each of a line of rose diamonds within continuous laurel leaf borders chased in gold, an emerald is set at each intersection of the lines of rose diamonds. This is one of the ten imperial Eggs sold in 1930 by the Antikvariat to the Hammer Galleries, New York. Between 1937 and 1953 it was owned by Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas Ludwig, New York. In 1962 was sold to a Private Collection, United States. It was bought in 1972 by Matilda Geddings Gray foundation, New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana.

http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fab/08/danpal.jpg

   Inside is the surprise, a folding screen of 10 miniatures painted by Krijitski in 1890, framed in multi-colored gold is recessed within the egg.

   Painted with watercolor on mother-of-pearl, eight of the ten panels depict palaces and residences that Princess Dagmar had known in her native Denmark before she married Alexander in 1866.



   Panels depict, from left to right, Imperial yacht Polar Star, Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen, Estate of Hvid?re near Copenhagen, The Summer Residence of Fredensborg Castle, Bernsdorff Castle, Copenhagen, Kronborg Castle, Elsinore, Two views of the Cottage Palace, Alexandria Park, Peterhof, Gatchina Palace, near St. Petersburg and the Imperial yacht "Tsarevna".



This panel (third from left) depicts the seaside estate of the Hvidore near Copenhagen. It was to this estate that the Dowager Empress came after her excape from The Crimea in 1919. She died at Hvidore in 1928.

[Bart]

1896 Revolving Miniatures Egg (or Rock Crystal Egg)

Presented by Nicholas II to Czarina Alexandra Fyodorovna

gold, enamel, diamonds, emerald, rock crystal

Dimensions 24,8x9,8 cm (9" 3/4 x 3" 7/8)

   Banded in diamonds and translucent emerald enamel, it is surmounted by a rare Siberian emerald weighing 26 karats, cut en cabochon and pointed. On a plinth of rock crystal, the double spheroid base in contrastyly colorful enamels, twice circled with diamonds, is designed with monograms of the Tsarina, as the Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt, before her marriage, and later as Aleksandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia. Above these appears a series of diamond crowns of the respective royal houses.



   The two halves of this rock crystal egg are held together by a narrow rose-cut diamond and translucent emerald-green enameled gold mount, culminating at the top with a 27 carat cabochon Siberian emerald, probably the biggest gem used in the Tsar Imperial Easter Eggs.

   The Egg is supported on a circular rock crystal plinth. The monograms of the Tsarina as the Princess Alex of Hesse-Darmstadt before her marriage, and as Alexandra Fyodorovna, Tsarina of Russia, each surmounted by their respective crown, appear as separate formal patterns encircling this plinth.



   This was the last of the five Imperial Easter Eggs bought by Lillian Thomas Pratt. The other four Eggs are the 1898 Pelican Egg, the 1903 Peter the Great Egg, the 1912 Tsarevich Egg and the 1915 Red Cross Portraits Egg.

   In 1930 one of the ten Eggs sold by the Antikvariat to the Hammer Galleries in New York. Ca. 1945 bought by Lillian Thomas Pratt, wife of a General Motors executive. 1947 Collection of the late Lillian Thomas Pratt, willed to Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, USA.

   Its "surprise" is that the emerald at the apex, when depressed, engages a hook that revolves the miniatures on a columnar axis. All but two miniatures are signed by Johannes Zehngraf (1857-1908), and are framed in gold.

   These, showing the royal residences in Germany, England and Russia associated with the life of the Czarina, include views of palaces in and near Darmstadt, Hesse; Balmoral and Windsor Castles, and Osborne House in the British Isles; the Winter, Antichkov, and Aleksandr Palaces of Russia.

[Bart]

1897 Gold Pelican Egg (or Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna Egg)



red gold, enamel, diamonds, pearls, ivory

Dimensions 10,2 x 5,4 cm (4"1/8 x 2"1/8) - with stand: 13,3 x 7,5 cm (5"1/4 x 2"15/16)

   The egg is made of gold and the ornaments are engraved. This is one of the few eggs that is not enamelled over most of its surface.

   Coincident with the centennial celebration of the patronage of charitable institutions by the Empresses of Russia, this gold egg is engraved with the commemorative dates "1797-1897"; and with the motifs of the Arts and Sciences. Surmounting the egg is a pelican feeding her young, an emblem of motherhood.



   The figure of the pelican and its young, in diamonds and opalescent white enamel, represents also tenets of the Christian Faith, Charity and Sacrifice. The Egg is engraved with classical motifs, the commemorative dates 1797 - 1897, and the inscription "Visit our vineyards, O Lord, and we shall dwell in thee."

   The surprise is that the egg, when taken from its stand, can be opened up, unfolding into eight oval panels, each rimmed in pearls.



   Thus are revealed miniatures on ivory by Johannes Zehngraf (1857-1908) depicting the Institutions of which the Dowager Empress was patroness, founded principally for the education of young girls. This egg commemorates the centennial celebration of the patronage of charitable institutions by the Dowager Empress of Russia.

   The institutions, founded mainly for the education of the daughters of the nobility, are depicted on an extending folding screen of eight ivory miniatures, each within a pearl border. On the back of the miniatures are listed the institutions portrayed. Closed, the panels form the entire egg, the surface separations of which are ingeniously concealed.

[Bart]

1899 Clock Egg or Madonna lily Egg or Bouquet of Lilies Clock Egg

Presented by Nicholas II to Czarina Alexandra Fyodorovna

gold, platinum, silver, rosettes, onyx

height 27 cm (105/8")

   The egg-shaped clock and its rectangular pedestal are decorated with translucent enamel on a guilloche  background. The four-colored gold egg is enameled translucent daffodil-yellow, and is richly set with diamonds. The egg takes the form of a clock with a revolving dial. The body of the clock is divided into twelve parts which are outlined in diamond-studded stripes. The belt of the dial which divides the egg is enameled opaque white with twelve diamond-set Roman numerals and the hours are pointed by the head of an arrow in a drawn bow. The belt revolves around the perimeter of the egg, indicating the time. The diamond clock hand protrudes from an immobile base. A gold key was used to wind the mechanism.



   The clock is crowned with a delicate bouquet of Madonna lilies, carved from onyx. The pistils of the flowers are set with three small rose diamonds, and the leaves and stems are of tinted gold. It stands on an onyx platform decorated with colored gold scroll mounts, rosettes and the date of its manufacture, 1899, is set in diamonds, and is designed as a vase with red gold scrolls serving as extra supports at either side. The gold rim of the vase is chased as a cluster of roses.

[Bart]

1910 Colonnade Egg

Presented by Nicholas II to Czarina Alexandra Fyodorovna

Pale-green bowenite, gold, silver, diamonds 

Height 28.6 cm

   It is a deeply romantic piece surmounted by a silver-gilt Cupid on a dome of opalescent pink enamel around which is a series of numbers in rose diamonds. The principal material used for the colonnade is pale-green bowenite, witch is beautifully worked in the base and the six columns wich are the principal part of the design; the whole object is richly embellished with four silver-gilt cherubs at the base, representing Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, the Romanov daughters, and floral swags in different colours of gold. The clock dial below the cupid is set with rose diamonds. This was truly a temple of love given from Czar Nicholas II to his beloved wife.



Designed as a temple of love, this clock egg commemorates the birth of the long awaited heir to the throne, Alexei, in 1904. A silver-gilt cupid, a representation of the tsarevich, surmounts the gold Egg, which is enameled in opalescent pale pink and isencircled by a broad band of a white enameled dial, set with rose-cut diamond numerals. The little gold cupid originally had a twig in his hands that pointed the the our. Two platinum doves are perched within the circle of the columns.


   Apparently there is no "surprise" coming with this egg, as with all the clock-eggs.



   There has been confusion for a long time, over whether the Colonnade Egg was the companion piece for the 1907 Love Trophies Egg, as both Eggs were thought to celebrate the birth of the heir. Recent research however indicates that this Egg was presented to Alexandra in 1910.

[Bart]

1906 The Moscow Kremlin Egg (or Uspenski Cathedral Egg)

Presented by Nicholas II to Czarina Alexandra Fyodorovna

Onyx, quatre-couleur gold, white and green enamel

Height 36.1 cm (14"1/4)

   The largest of the eggs, this is a stylish model inspired by the architecture of the Cathedral of the Assumption (Uspenski) in the Moscow Kremlin.

   The magnificent Moscow Kremlin Egg commemorates the return to Moscow of the Imperial couple in 1903. (See the 1897 Coronation Egg). They had tended to avoid the capital following the disaster during the celebrations to mark their coronation. Hundreds of Muscovites died, crushed to death, when a crowd ran amok in Khodynka Meadow. Many russians took the tragedy as a bad omen for the reign of the new tsar.



   An enameled gold composition centered on the egg-shaped (removable) dome of the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Moscow Kremlin, in white opalescent enamel, the interior of the church with its carpets, tiny enameled icons and High Altar made visible through four triple windows, surmounted by a gold cupola; flanked by two square and two circular stylized turrets, the former based on the Spassky Tower, bearing the coat-of-arms of the Russian Empire and Moscow and inset with chiming clocks. Standing on a crenelated gold base and octagonal onyx plinth - signed Faberg?, dated 1904.

   The Egg was to have been presented in 1904 (hence the date on the base) but was delayed possibly because of the Russo-japanese War. Another disaster is connected with this Egg. Nicholas II's favorite uncle and brother-in-law, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, was assassinated in the kremlin by a terrorist early in 1905, the first and only time a member of the ruling dynasty was murdered in the ancient citadel of the Moscow Tsars. This may have delayed the presentation of the Egg for a second time. Nicholas II did not receive the Egg until 1906 and the bill of sale was not presented until that year.

   Despite these sad associations, the Moscow Kremlin Egg held the most prominent position in Alexandra Fyodorovna's display cabinet in her Sitting Room in the Alexander Palace.

   The surprise a clockwork music box with its original gold key at the base of the egg. The music box plays "Izhe Khveruviny" (Cherubim Hymn), a favorite hymn of Czar Nicholas.

[Bart]

1900 Trans-Siberian Railway Egg

Presented by Nicholas II to Czarina Alexandra Fyodorovna

Platinum, tinted gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, onyx, rock crystal, wood, silk, velvet

Height 26 cm (10"1/4), length of train 39.8 cm (15"3/4)

   In 1900, the railway that would link European Russia with the Pacific coast was near completion, an accomplishment that brought Nicholas great satisfaction and the support of his country. Faberg? devised an ingenious offering to celebrate the event: a translucent green enamelled gold Easter egg decorated with colored enamel and mounted on an onyx base. The lid of the egg is hinged, has an overlay of green enamel, and is decorated with inlaid leaves of acanthus. Surmounting the lid is a three-headed Eagle in gold bearing the Imperial Crown.



   Engraved in silver across the egg is a map of the route of the Trans-Siberian railway, which ran from St. Petersburg to Vladivostock. Each station is marked by a precious stone. This map forms a broad belt around this translucent green enamelled gold egg. It is decorated with blue and orange enamel mounts and bears the inscription "The route of the Grand Siberian Railway in the year 1900." The egg is supported by three Romanov Griffins cast in gold-plated silver, each brandishing a sword and shield. The stepped base is of white onyx in the form of a triangle with concave sides and rounded corners. A gold-plated silver braid is inlaid into the base.



   Within is concealed, in three sections, a miniature working model of the Trans-Siberian Express just one foot long. It consists of a platinum and gold locomotive and tender, and of five gold coaches with windows of rock crystal. Its headlights are diamonds, and its rear lights are rubies. The three parts may be connected to form a train which runs along when the clockwork locomotive is wound up. The coaches are individually labeled "mail", "for ladies only", "smoking" and "non-smoking", and a "restaurant" car. The last coach is designated "chapel", which was appended to the Imperial train. The train runs when is wound up with a golden key above the driving wheels of the locomotive, .

[Bart]

1900  Cuckoo Egg (or Cockerel Egg)

Presented by Nicholas II to Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna

Gold, enamel, diamonds, natural feathers, pearls, ruby

Height 20,6 cm (8"1/8)

   This strange and awkward pastiche of R?gence and Louis XV motifs was inspired by an automaton in the collections of the Hermitage by the English clockmaker James Cox (d. 1788). The baroque-style Cuckoo Egg, fashioned as a table clock, is one of six automated imperial Easter eggs created by Faberg?.



   The egg, in dull yellow, green and red gold, is enameled opalescent white and translucent violet on a zigzag guilloche (1) field, and set with pearls and rose diamonds. The dial, which is encircled by pearls set in red polished gold, is enameled with translucent emerald green trefoils, and the rose diamond numerals are set on pale greenish white opalescent enamel within opaque white enamel rings. A yellow gold leaf pattern surrounds the central pivot on which the red gold hands revolve.



   The egg is supported on an elaborate base set with three large rose diamonds by a central shaft and three struts enameled opalescent white. Though from a design standpoint, this egg is among the least interesting of the Imperial eggs (it was a theme Faberg? explored in several other eggs, including one made for Varvara Kelch which is also for sale at Sotheby's) technically it is a major clock making achievement in miniature, and prepares the way for several of Faberg?'s more innovative pieces.



   The egg, which cost 6500 rubles, was delivered to the Dowager Empress at the Anitchkov Palace, where it remained until it was also sold to Wartski in 1927. By 1949, the egg had been sold to Mrs. Isabella S. Low, who sold it back to Wartski in 1953. In 1970, it was sold by Wartski to a Washington DC developer, Robert H. Smith. On November 20, 1973, it was sold as lot 355 by Christie's Geneva to Bernard Solomon of Los Angeles for 207,000 dollars. On June 11, 1985, it was sold by Sotheby's New York as part of Mr. Solomon's divorce settlement, and was purchased by Forbes for $1,760,000 - setting a record at auction.

   After eighty years of exile this egg has been returned home thanks to Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg, Chairman of board of directors of Open Society "Sual-holding" who has purchased it from successors to Malcolm Forbes and has made it accessible to the Russian citizens. Sale of the Forbes' collection from Sotheby's auction in the beginning of 2004 could make objects channel off in separate collections and countries. Purchasing of the whole collection by V. Vekselberg before the advertised bidding is unprecedented in auction practice.

   With every egg, Faberg? outdid himself in technique, detail or complex mechanics. Some of the world's best examples of handcrafted automata are hidden in the jeweled shells of the Imperial eggs.

   When a button at the back of the clock is pressed, the circular pierced gold grille which surmounts it opens, and a cockerel, plumed with natural feathers, set with cabochon ruby eyes, and standing on gold legs, rises crowning on a gold platform, the beak and wings moving authentically, until the crowing finished, it descends once again into the egg. At the stroke of the hour, the ruby-eyed rooster emerges automatically, crowing and flapping its wings. On the top of the grille the date 1900 is inscribed beneath a diamond. Faberg? was known to have worked on the mechanism of the Peacock Clock in the Winter Palace, and his familiarity with that famous automaton no doubt inspired the creation of this egg.

[scribe]

Carlos Jasso / Bloomberg
The Rothschild Faberge egg

A Faberge egg made for the Rothschild banking family has sold at auction for a world record �8.9m.

The Rothschild egg made in 1902 is just one of 12 in public hands known to have been produced to standards required by the Russian Imperial family.

The gold and pink egg has a clock for a face and a diamond-encrusted cockerel which nods its head and flaps its wings on the stroke of each hour.

A private Russian art collector bought the clock at Christie's in London.

He was in the auction room but not immediately identified.

Private records

The egg which has never been seen in public before was previously only documented in private family records.

Made by Peter Carl Faberge, it was a gift to Germaine Halphen for her engagement to Baron de Rothschild in 1905.

It is thought the egg was purchased in St Petersburg at the turn of the 20th Century.

Anthony Philips, international director of silver and Russian works of art at Christie's, said the Rothschild Faberge Egg "encapsulates every characteristic that defines a true masterpiece".

The sale price included the buyer's premium.

The previous record was set when The Faberge Winter Egg sold in 2002 for more than �6.6m.


Auction

[Administration]

The Imperial Coronation Egg is a jewelled Faberg� egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Faberg� in 1897 by Faberg� ateliers, Mikhail Perkhin and Henrik Wigstrom. The egg was made to commemorate the 1894 Coronation of Czar Nicholas II. The valuable piece of Russian history was then presented as a gift to his spouse, the Tsaritsa, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna.

It was frequently on exhibition at The Hermitage Museum (specifically the Winter Palace) in St. Petersburg, Russia, and also materialized in various museums worldwide, placed in temporary exhibits there. Georges Stein is responsible for the creation of the gold Coronation Coach (at right). It is currently owned by one of the Russian oligarchs, Viktor Vekselberg.



Craftsmanship

The egg is made from gold, enamelled translucent lime yellow on a guilloch� field of starbursts, referencing the cloth-of-gold robe worn by the Tsarina at her Coronation.

It is trellised with bands of greenish gold laurel leaves mounted at each intersection by a gold Imperial double-headed eagle enamelled opaque black, and set with a rose diamond on its chest. This pattern was also drawn from the Coronation robe worn by the Empress.

A large portrait diamond is set in the top of the egg within a cluster of ten brilliant diamonds; through the table of this stone, the monogram of the Empress can be seen. A smaller portrait diamond is set within a cluster of rose diamonds at the end of the egg, beneath which the date 1897 is inscribed on a similar plaque. The egg was presented, together with a glass-enclosed jadeite stand for the display of the Carriage, at a cost of 5650 rubles.

Surprise

Fitted inside a velvet-lined compartment is a precise replica, less than four inches long of the Eighteenth-century Imperial coach that carried the Tsarina Alexandra to her coronation at Moscow's Uspensky Cathedral, created by Georges Stein.

The red colour of the original coach was recreated using strawberry coloured translucent enamel and the blue upholstery of the interior was also reproduced in enamels. The coach is surmounted by the Imperial Crown in rose diamonds and six double-headed eagles on the roof; it is fitted with engraved rock crystal windows and platinum tyres, and is decorated with a diamond-set trellis in gold and an Imperial eagle in diamonds at either door. Complete with moving wheels, opening doors, actual C-spring shocks, and a tiny folding step-stair.

Missing surprises include an emerald or diamond pendant that hung inside the replica coach, a glass-enclosed jadeite stand for the display of the carriage as well as a stand made of silver-gilt wire.

History


The last Romanov patriarchs at their Coronation Mass, painting by Laurits Regner Tuxen, 1898

The Coronation of Czar Nicholas II and his spouse, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna was the catalyst for the Imperial Coronation Egg's creation, to celebrate the historical event. The Coronation on 14 May 1894, was a day of jubilance and pride in the Romanovs, celebrated by throngs of spectators. The Russian nobles and guests gathered on the Eastern Orthodox day of Dormition, the death of Mary, inside Uspensky Cathedral for the actual Coronation. The throne of the Czar, the former throne of Michael I of Russia was inset with 870 diamonds, rubies, and pearls. The throne of the Czarina, the famous ivory throne of Ivan the Great, also was inset with a vast collection of jewels and rare gemstones.

The gold miniature coach, which is removable from the interior of the Coronation Egg, is a replica of Catherine the Great's Gold Coach of 1793 used to transport the last Romanov rulers from ceremony to ceremony on the coronation week. Another artifact used in the coronation from the reign of Catherine was the nine-pound diamond crown made by J�r�mie Pauzie in 1762.

�    The coronation in Moscow on May 26th 1896 was the most opulent celebration which I ever witnessed. It bordered close to the Oriental and lasted for 10 days. In Moscow the cathedral was filled with paintings on gold ground of saints and all priests were dressed in gold robes applied with embroidery and precious stones. A very deep feeling of mysticism was in all the ceremonies and you could feel the tradition of Byzance... And following the prayer for the Emperor he gets up and then is the only person standing at that moment in the whole Russian Empire... To look at all this must have been like a fantastic dream because the sun was shining an all.    �

        - Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, Brother of Empress Alexandra, Grandson of Queen Victoria[1]