Imperial glassware to go on sale

Mar 10 2013

A collection of 19th century glassware which belonged to the Russian Imperial Royal Family is to be sold at auction.

The items, once owned by Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich, whose grandfather was Tsar Nicholas I, are said to have come from three separate banquet services made by the Imperial Glass Factory for use in palaces.

They bear three different monograms or ciphers, one of which is for Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich, the father of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich.

The glass pieces, which have been valued collectively at £18,000, are being auctioned off as separate lots by Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on Tuesday March 26.

The Grand Duke was banished to England after entering a "socially unequal" marriage with Countess Sophie de Meckenberg and the glassware is thought to have descended through the family to their daughter, Countess Anastasia de Torby, who later became Lady Zia Wernher of Luton Hoo.

Douglas Girton, a ceramics and glass specialist at Lyon & Turnbull auctioneers, said: "In the context of European Royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social standing which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage.

"Now rare, it is also known as a left-handed marriage because in the wedding ceremony the groom traditionally held his bride's right hand with his left hand instead of his right."