Catherine the Great discovery
An official seal commissioned by the Empress of Russia is found in a biscuit tin
A gold seal belonging to Catherine the Great has sold for £22,900 at auction.
Dating back to the 1780’s, it was discovered in a biscuit tin during a routine valuation by a jewellery expert at a house in north London. The 1.5-inch by 1-inch seal had been in the same family for more than 100 years and passed down through four generations.
Commissioned by the Empress and most likely used in the Russian royal court, a horse and a lion were carved from a carnelian stone surrounded by gold.
Charles Hartley from Hartley Auctions in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, said the seal was one of two sold by gem-cutter Charles Brown to Catherine.
‘An outside expert has suggested that this might have been the original stone and the one in the Hermitage, St Petersburg, was the second to be carved. After they made them for the Empress they worked almost exclusively for her until her death in 1796. We think it was brought back to England by the Mellish merchant family who were based in London before passing into the vendor’s family where it has stayed for more than 100 years.’
The second seal is kept at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Catherine the Great was Empress of Russia from December 25, 1761 until her death in 1796.
