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Golden set of Russian emperor’s daughter put up for auction at Christie’s

According to experts, the lot costs from 1.5 to 2 million U.S. dollars

Christie’s auction AP Photo/Kathy Willens, archive

Christie’s auction

© AP Photo/Kathy Willens, archive

NEW YORK, March 23 /TASS/. A golden table set of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, a daughter of Russian Emperor Paul I, and his wife Maria Fyodorovna has been put up for auction at Christie’s in New York, Elena Kurbatskaya, Christie’s press secretary for work with Russia, told TASS on Tuesday.

She believes the set will be among the top lots at the so-called Auction of Masterpieces of classical art, which usually lasts for a week. According to experts, the lot costs from 1.5 to 2 million U.S. dollars.

The auction will take place on April 13. The set was a present to the Russian imperial family on the occasion of Duchess Elena’s wedding that took place on October 23, 1799. Later on, the set passed on from generation to generation.

The last time the Swiss-made set, which weighs almost three kilograms, was put up for auction at Christie’s was in 1931.

Historians believe that a tradition to give golden tea or table sets to children and grandchildren dates back to 1779 when Russian Empress Catherine the Great ordered a golden coffee set for her two-year-old elder grandson Alexander (future Russian Emperor Alexander I).

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