The Royal Romania auction, one of the most anticipated events organized by Artmark this fall, will be held on October 22, 2013, at 7 p.m. at Athenee Palace Hilton in Bucharest. Over the period preceding the auction, history lovers and collectors will have the opportunity to admire unique collection items gifted by or dedicated to members of the Romanian royal family, within the exhibition opened at the Cesianu-Racovita Palace until Monday, October 21.
According to the press release of the Artmark auction house, visitors will have access to the confessions of Queen Elisabeth of Romania, transposed on paper in the unique copy of Confessions de Salon Journal (starting price: 3,000 euros). The album, a luxury copy that belonged for sure to a high-ranking lady, illustrates the practice of the intimate journal tightly connected at that time to the practice of making confessions within fashionable circles, expressing one’s opinions on certain topics put forward by the owner.
The suffering and despair of Princess Ileana caused by her broken engagement are captured in a holographic letter sent by the young daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Mary to her boyfriend, ambassador and diplomat Radu Cutarida. The starting price of this auction item is EUR 350. The friendship between Princess Ileana, born in 1909, and the diplomat Radu Cutarida is a fact. While working at the embassy in Bern, the diplomat was informed about the broken engagement between Ileana and Alexander (Lexel) by Hochberg, a German count and unscrupulous adventurer.
The festivity marking the formal investiture of King Ferdinand and Queen Mary as the first royal rulers of the Great Romania in 1922 is illustrated in a very rare copy of a Pathe-Baby film roll called ‘Fetes du couronement en Roumanie’ (starting price: EUR 300). The ceremony continued on October 16, 1922, in Bucharest with a parade to celebrate the Great Union. The roll presents the royal family, as well as pictures of the crowd attending the festivity.
Two days after his return to Romania, for his coronation, King Carol II delivered an address to the Romanian people on June 8, 1920 registered at the Sinaia-based Foisor Castle and aired on radio. The gramophone record belonging to the brand His Master Voice, a proof of those times (starting amount: EUR 600), includes both the proclamation to the county and the royal anthem.
