Emanuel Snowman

Emanuel Snowman OBE MVO (25 January 1886 – 27 February 1970)[2] was a British jeweller, local politician and Jewish community leader.

[4] He often travelled with Armand Hammer and they both established good relations with the Soviet authorities, allowing Snowman to obtain many exceptional works of art, including nine imperial Fabergé eggs, intended for resale in London, which he acquired between 1925 and 1938.

After the Revolution, the new government faced a pressing need for hard currency and the sale of objects from the Church and the aristocracy was one way to raise funds quickly.

[8] There was some discomfort amongst Russian émigré circles in London about the purchase of items that had previously belonged to Russian aristocrats or the royal family as although property confiscated by the Soviets could be legally sold, as the Soviet Government was internationally recognised, some of the items were identifiably the personal property of living individuals or relatives of the recently deceased.

The Times commented pointedly that the "haul" could "be comfortably stowed away in a Gladstone bag" and that these were "things which the owners would have handled and treasured as personal belongings.