RUSSIAN NUMISMATIC REFERENCES AND SALE CATALOGS Russian Numismatic References and Sale Catalogs. Michaïlovitch, Grand-Duc Georges. MONNAIES DE L'EMPIRE DE RUSSIE 1725-1894. TRADUCTION FRANÇAISE PAR NADINE TACKÉ NÉE LÉNIVOVA, DOCTEUR DE L'UNIVERSITÉ DE PARIS, AVEC LE CONCOURS DE M.F. DE VILLENOISY, BIBLIOTHÉCAIRE AU CABINET DES MÉDAILLES. OUVRAGE PUBLIÉ SOUS LES AUSPICES DE M.E. BABELON, MEMBRE DE L'INSTITUT, CONSERVATEUR DU CABINET DES MÉDAILLES DE LA BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE. Paris: Chez M. Feuardent, Éditeur, 1916. Complete text, and portrait and edge plates. Missing coin plates. Uncut. 11 portrait plates of Russian rulers, 10 plates illustrating 204 'Tranches' ('Edges'). Folio. Plates in original wrapper. Very rare and seldom offered. Minor foxing on some of the plates. Clean, uncut pages. Very fine. Born in Tiflis (Tbilisi) in 1863, Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich was Russia's preeminent numismatic researcher and collector. His name, in fact today, is synonymous with Russian numismatics. Mikhailovich began collecting coins as a teenager, and his wealth and privilege allowed him to build a magnificent collection. In "Description and Illustration of Some Rare Coins in My Collection," he first proposed publishing a corpus of Russian coinage from Peter the Great onwards. Count Tolstoï had already proposed a corpus of Pre-Petrine coinage a few years earlier. The Grand Duke funded and directed the grand project, and the various volumes were compiled by Giel, Demmeni and others. Twelve volumes were finished before war broke out and brought completion of the corpus to a standstill – parts 1, 3 and 4 of the Peter the Great series never saw publication. Mikhailovich, along with three other Russian Grand Dukes, was executed on January 28, 1919 by Bolsheviks. Only 200 sets of the Russian edition of his master work were issued and it is likely that, at best, a similar number of the French translation were printed.
Estimate: $2500