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Russians buy back national treasures that went West

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  • Russians buy back national treasures that went West

    Agence France Presse -- English
    December 3, 2004 Friday 4:38 PM GMT

    Russians buy back national treasures that went West

    LONDON

    In a string of London auctions culminating on Friday, newly rich
    Russians have spent millions of dollars buying back Russian paintings
    and other treasures which ended up in the West both before and after
    the 1917 Communist revolution.

    Calling the auctions that began Tuesday "Russia week," MacDougall's,
    Christie's and Sotheby's sold paintings, porcelain vases, silverwork
    and even bottles of Crimean wine that were once stored in the cellars
    of the Czars.

    In Sotheby's on New Bond Street earlier this week, businessmen,
    collectors and agents, all speaking Russian, crowded the corridors
    and red-wallpapered auction room snapping up artwork at the rate of
    about one a minute.

    Dressed in fur coats, svelt, blond-haired Slavic women used Montblanc
    pens to make note of the artwork as their husbands, wearing leather
    jackets, reviewed the orders and made calls on their portable
    telephones before bidding.

    London has become a refuge for many "oligarchs," the breed of Russian
    billionaires who made their fortunes in oil and other natural
    resources following the collapse of communism in 1991. Among the best
    known is Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club.

    "The new rich have limitless means but limited knowledge of art,"
    said Prince Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky, the London-based Russian emigre
    collector who is a regular at the auction houses.

    "They buy at top price to impress their friends. During the highest
    bidding, there was applause in the room," the prince told AFP,
    speaking in French.

    Many of the works of art at auction had ended up in Western countries
    after the aristocracy emigrated after the 1917 revolution.

    Michael Bing, head of division in Sotheby's Russia Department, said
    that it is only now that Russians are able to buy back national
    treasures.

    "It is their heritage that they are discovering. There is money in
    Russia now to acquire it," Bing said.

    "Russians are fond of art. They are passionate about their national
    history. Put money in their hands and you see the result," he told
    AFP.

    Though Russians were the main buyers, there were others who had a
    strong interest in the art.

    An ethnic Armenian collector from New York bought a painting by Ivan
    Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, who lived from 1817-1900 and painted many
    maritime scenes.

    "I go everywhere to buy him (Aivazovsky). I've been collecting him
    for 25 years, but prices have gone up 10 fold compared to six years
    ago," said the 49-year-old collector who asked not to be named.

    "Russians and Armenians are getting rich everywhere. They love him
    and they can spend more money," he added.

    Several Aivazovsky works rated among the 10 highest sales of the week
    at both Sotheby's and Christie's. One of them "St Isaac on a frosty
    day" fetched a record 1.1 million pounds (2.1 million dollars or 1.6
    million euros).

    "I also bought a Faberge (the court jeweller to the Russian royal
    family) dinner set. I had no intention to buy it, but my wife liked
    it," he said.

    The recent surge in prices prompted Christie's to grab a larger share
    of the Russian art market, which until now had been dominated by
    Sotheby's, the auction house said.

    MacDougall's, a new specialized house, staged its first auction,
    hoping to profit from the skyrocketing market in London.

    The wines that were enjoyed by 19th-century Russian Czars and leader
    Joseph Stalin are expected to fetch more than 500,000 pounds at
    auction later Friday.

    The Russian London Newspaper said that representatives for Russian
    President Vladimir Putin were expected to be at the auctions buying
    up work for him, but this could not be confirmed.

    The newspaper said it was one of the largest sales of Russian art yet
    seen in Europe and the biggest in London.
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