Russian Émigré Archives Lead Bonhams Classics Sale
Dossier relating to General Horvat and the Grand Duke's political activity in the Far East & preparation of the Grand Duke Nicolas Nikolaevich's official response to the Trust Affair (1927)
A group of Russian émigré archives concerning Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna and their networks in exile will come up at Bonhams Paris tomorrow.
Lots 239–249 in The Classics sale include correspondence, photographs, administrative and financial papers documenting the grand-ducal household at Choigny, and its relations with the wider Russian émigré community.
Lot 247 (estimate £6,700-£8,300) brings together two related groups of papers concerning the Grand Duke’s political activities in exile, in particular documents from 1927-1928 concerning General Dmitri Horvat’s appointment as the Grand Duke’s representative to the Russian emigration in the Far East and proposed negotiations involving Japan and Marshal Zhang Zuolin. A power of attorney and related correspondence focus on efforts to identify and recover Russian state funds and assets associated with Admiral Kolchak’s government, reportedly held by Chinese and Japanese banks, other institutions and private individuals.
The lot also includes a number of autograph letters signed by Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich and an appeal addressed to US President Calvin Coolidge in 1925. Taken together, these papers shine light on the political, financial and information networks of the Russian emigration.
Also going under the hammer is an important group of Romanov family archives, comprising correspondence, photographs and documents relating to Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, and the Russian émigré community in France following the Revolution.
Estimated each at €8,000-10,000, the archive includes material connected to the celebrated Anastasia Tchaikovskaya (later Anna Anderson) affair and documents concerning the death of Empress Maria Feodorovna, offering a unique glimpse into one of the twentieth century's most enduring historical controversies. A group of letters concerning the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (1868–1935) contains French and Russian language correspondence, dating principally from the 1920s to the 1930s, comprising letters addressed to and written by Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, together with handwritten notes, signed letters and other related material.
Other highlights include a first edition of Georgius Agricola's De re metallica (1556), estimated at £17,000 - £25,000. Widely regarded as the first systematic treatise on mining and metallurgy, it is richly illustrated with approximately 300 woodcuts depicting furnaces, hydraulic systems and mining machinery.
