HIH Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna 'The Elder' (1854-1920) was born Marie Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, daughter of Grand Duke Frederick Francis II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Princess Augusta of Reuss-Köstritz. She married the third son of Alexander II of Russia, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia (1847-1909), her second cousin, on 28 August 1874.
She is considered to have been one of the world's most important collectors of jewellery. A passion that she avidly shared with her relations, Princess Mathilde Bonaparte Demidoff (1820-1904). In fact, as the correspondence shows, the two would meet in Paris during the times Grand Duchess Vladimir would visit the ‘city of lights’ to meet, for example, Louis Cartier, to have her ruby and diamond pieces reset into a new tiara or hair corsage. One can only imagine how the two would dazzle Paris’s literary giants and leading politicians with their spectacular jewellery at Princess Mathilde’s salons that she regularly hosted at her residence on rue de Courcelles.
The story of how the jewellery collection of Grand Duchess Vladimir found its way out of Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution makes for riveting reading. The Grand Duchess is considered to be the last member of the Romanov family to leave Russia believing that the revolution would be put down and order restored. The abdication of Tsar Nicholas II on 15 March 1917 convinced her otherwise. Her collection of jewellery that were kept in four cabinets: one red for the rubies, one white for the diamonds, one green for the emeralds, and one blue for the sapphires; all were moved to a safe hidden behind a painting in her ‘octagonal’ Moorish-style suite of rooms. It is said that before leaving the palace she made a visit to the Swedish legation presumably to announce her imminent departure as well as to advise on the treasures that were being left behind.
In March 1917, Grand Duchess Vladimir closed the Vladimir Palace and took her family on the three-day journey south to the spa town of Kislovodsk in the Northern Caucasus, where she owned a summer villa. It was at this time that the Grand Duchess reached out to a long-standing friend and confidante, Albert Henry Stopford (1860-1939). Stopford, an aristocratic British art dealer, was well-known by the Grand Duchess who attended her tea parties and other social events in St. Petersburg or Petrograd, as it became known after 1914. During the start of World War I, Stopford had offered his services to the British War Office, thus securing diplomatic immunity so the right to travel wherever he pleased within Russia.
In April, 1917, Stopford traveled to meet the Grand Duchess’s at Kislovodsk. Unfortunately, the spa town also was becoming unsafe with the local press announcing for the properties of the Imperial family to be sequestered. In August, Stopford revisited the Grand Duchess and brought for her money that he had hidden in his shoes. The Grand Duchess discussed with Stopford her concern over the safety of her jewellery that had been left at the palace. She asked Stopford to secure the jewellery for safekeeping outside of the country. This would be the last time that the two would meet in Russia. The Grand Duchess would later write him advising “ that the night before - September 13-14 - the Committee of Workmen and Soldiers came to the house at 2.30 am and stayed until 6, opening, searching and turning everything topsy-turvy”.
Stopford returned to Petrograd and, in coordination with Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia (1877-1943), the son of Grand Duchess Vladimir, agreed on a plan to secure possession of the jewellery. That summer, Stopford, disguised as a workman, and with the help of a loyal palace caretakers, entered the palace following the Grand Duchess’s instructions on where to locate and secure possession of the precious contents. The plan worked and Stopford, under diplomatic immunity, was able to leave Petrograd on 26 September 1917 for England, via Sweden and Aberdeen, carrying the Grand Duchess’s fabulous collection of 244 pieces of jewels in two Gladstone bags.
However, the danger was only worsening and, in autumn, 1919, the Grand Duchess decided that it was time to leave Russia. The challenge was that there was only one available passage that involved a 800 kilometre trek to the White Russian stronghold at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Despite the inclement late autumn weather and in the midst of raging hostilities, the Grand Duchess made the final fifty-mile journey to the nearest railway station ‘in style’ arriving in an open carriage accompanied by her ‘maid of honour’. In February, 1920, the Grand Duchess boarded an Italian vessel leaving Russia, never to return, heading to Venice before traveling to Switzerland and then to Paris. On arriving in Venice, the Grand Duchess was welcomed by the ever loyal Stopford who, once more, brought money to make possible the necessary travel arrangements within Europe. He further shared evidence that confirmed that the precious jewellery was in a safety deposit box in London and under her name. He further provided an itemised list of each item that earlier had been sent to Cartier in Paris for valuation purposes.
Unfortunately, the arduous journey made amidst a bloody and brutal civil war took its toll on her health. A few months later on 6 September 1920, the Grand Duchess died in Contrexéville, a commune located in north-eastern France, her children at her side. Her vast collection of jewellery, that Stopford had so carefully safeguarded, were divided amongst her children.
However, there is a second part to the story, that most likely was not known to the Grand Duchess and that involved other treasures hidden within the Vladimir Palace. These precious items eventually found their way to the archives of the Foreign Office in Stockholm were they remained undisturbed for a number of decades.
It is believed that it was Professor Richard Alexandrovitch Bergholz (1864-1920), an academic, who took over as President of the Academy of Fine Arts in 1909, who was the one who arrived at the Swedish legation in St. Petersburg in late November, 1918. The professor carried with him two ‘pillowcases’ filled with treasures from the Vladimir Palace. The fact that the contents were stuffed into pillowcases suggests frantic, last minute, action taken on the part of a loyal caretaker who acted to protect the property of its rightful owner. The items predominately pertained to the Grand Duchess's late husband, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovitch of Russia. According to the Swedish Foreign Office in Stockholm, documents in the archive reveal that the Grand Duke's property was delivered to Baron Carl von Koskull, the Swedish Legation Councillor. This may have been the person at the Swedish Legation whom the Grand Duchess met shortly before her departure for Kordolvsk. However, no record exists of the handover nor of any receipt given in exchange for the items. The ownership is based solely on a handwritten inscription in Indian ink on the pillowcase that shows: Appartient a S A. Imp/ la grand Duchesse/ Wladimir. The items were handed over during the time that diplomatic ties between Russia and Sweden were severed that led to the subsequent closure of the Swedish Legation. The two 'bags' were taken by departing staff from Petrograd to Stockholm via Finland and with the original wax seals left intact.
Once in Stockholm the wax seals remained untouched until 1952 when they were broken in order to itemise the contents of each bag before being returned, in their original pillowcases, to the archives. It would not be for another 56 years before the forgotten two bags were rediscovered during a reorganisation project of the archives. It was only at this late time that concrete steps were taken to locate the rightful owners. In 2009, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs reached out to a direct descendant of the Grand Duchess, Hans-Veit, count of Törring-Jettenbach, advising of the rediscovery of the two pillowcases found in the basement. He was able to provide the Swedish authorities with the updated list of direct heirs, that numbered 23, each of whom had authorised Count Hans-Veit to receive the valuables on their behalf.
Count Hans-Veit then traveled to Stockholm accompanied by a close friend, Count Heinrich Graf von Spreti, Head of Sotheby's Munich office. At the meeting, attended by various Swedish public officials, the Swedish Minister made a short speech, as did Count Hans-Viet, while the over one hundred precious items still wrapped in their original tissue paper, were laid out on the table. The two were then left in the room to make a provisional list of the items together with accompanying photographs. They were then driven to the airport where Count von Spreti took two suitcases containing the precious items directly to Sotheby's offices in London.
The Sotheby’s sale, ‘Romanov Heirlooms: The Lost Inheritance of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna’ took place in London on 30 November 2009 and included 110 lots with scores of precious works by Fabergé. The auction proved an overwhelming success with pre-sale estimates exceeded over seven-fold and yielding the living heirs over £7 million. The single most important buyer was the McFerrin family whose Fabergé collection in the United States numbers over 600 pieces and is considered amongst the largest private collections of Fabergé in the world.
Following the successful outcome of the public sale, the descendants of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna “Miechen” of Russia agreed on a fitting tribute to their illustrious ancestral relations. They agreed to set aside a portion of the proceeds towards the restoration of burial sites in Schwerin pertaining to the Grand Duchess’s ancestors, the Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. This most noble and generous tribute serves to link the legacy of the Grand Duchess Vladimir, to her illustrious ancestors, her current living descendants as well as those future generations still to come.
