Saturday, August 9, 2014

Joyaux de madame la princesse Lobanoff de Rostoff, née princesse Dolgorouky



Princess Vera Nikolaievna Lobanov Rostovsky (or Lobanoff de Rostoff 1836-1914), née Dolgoruky, Russian aristocrat. In 1858 - supposedly at the age of sixteen, but the dates don't match up - she married Prince Yakov (Jacques) Borisovitch Lobanov Rostovsky (23 May 1828 - 6 February 1878), younger brother of the Prince Lobanov Rostovsky who was ambassador to the courts of Vienna and London, and later Russian Foreign Minister. The Prince and Princess spent much time in France, and were among the first of what was to become the Russian colony in Cannes. Widowed early, Princess Vera was left with fabulous wealth providently paired with an acquisitive nature, especially for jewelry; she supposedly responded to those who were alarmed by her escalating accumulation of bijoux, "They are wise investments; I am not squandering anything; on the contrary, I am building a second fortune from the first one".


The collection was auctioned in January 1920, six years after her death.





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