STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 27 December 2012

[Demeter]

5. So, we went to see the exhibit of Faberge eggs and stuff

This exhibit was from a museum in Virginia, a collection made by a GM wife, if I recall the literature correctly, when Stalin sold off the expensive, ornamental, but basically useless treasures of the Romanovs to finance his first national infrastructure Five Year Plan. These items were left behind when the Romanovs attempted to flee for safety, which is why they haven't disappeared.

The workmanship was exquisite, the designs creative...the closest equivalent today might be the finely detailed equipment NASA created to send men to the moon and bring them back safely....

The story goes that the jewelry that the Romanov women sewed into their corsets added immeasurably to the pain and destruction when they were executed, as the bullets ricocheted off the diamonds.

I'm not sure of the purpose of selling one 1%er's useless purchases to another, but that we can look at these marvels of craftsmanship today because they were donated to the museum is a better use of them, I suppose.