Lot 2825
Russia. Gold Pattern 'Coronation' Rouble 1856. Alexander II, 1855- 1881. Proof struck in 22ct gold. Edge plain. Diameter 38.6mm. Weight 35 grams. Obverse: Conjoined busts of the Czar (from the portrait by A. Lyalin) and his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna, facing right. Reverse: Detailed rendition of crowned imperial two-headed eagle with orb and sceptre, numeral 1 (Rouble) above. There were no currency roubles issued during the reign of Alexander II which bore his portrait. One of only 10 pieces recently produced struck in gold. Choice Brilliant Proof.
*Alexander and Maria were crowned in the cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Together they had 8 children. She participated little in public life.
Alexander was a pragmatic leader who veered away from the narrow autocratic views of his father. He quickly moved to close the embarrassing foreign policy manoeuvres of Nicholas I and made peace in the Crimea. In 1861 he promoted the emancipation of the serfs and he also engineered many other relatively liberal reforms. Nevertheless, the growth of revolutionary movements within Russia led to constant attempts on his life.
In 1866 there was an assassination attempt in St Petersburg. Alexander survived and built new churches and chapels in many Russian cities to celebrate his narrow escape, One morning in April 1879 the Czar was walking and was confronted by a former student Alexander Soloviev who fired a revolver five times at his intended victim, but missed.
Other revolutionaries were keen to murder Alexander, and in December 1879 the Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) group organised a huge explosion on the railway from Livadia to Moscow, but they missed the Czar's train. Undaunted, the same people, on the evening of 5th February 1880, set off another explosion under the dining room of the imperial Winter Palace. The Czar was late for supper and survived, but 67 others were killed or wounded.
In March 1881 a youth threw a bomb under Czar Alexander's bulletproof carriage as he travelled his regular route to review the Life Guards in Manezh. Although one of his companions was killed, the fortified carriage (a gift from Napoleon III of France) was barely damaged, and the Czar emerged unscathed. A second bomb was however thrown at the Czar's feet by another would-be assassin, Ignacy Hryniewiecki. The assassins had finally succeeded and Alexander's reign ended abruptly in March 1881.
Estimated Value $2,000 - 2,400.
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