On 15th October 2025, I reported that a rare photo album belonging to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918) was being auctioned on 23rd October 2025, at the Literary Fund Auction House (Litfond) in St. Petersburg.

The opening bid for the album was 10 million rubles [$125,600 USD], but collectors bidding against one another, managed to drive the price even higher. The photo album sold for 13 million rubles [$163,000 USD], to an unknown Russian bidder.

The lilac-coloured album includes 12 pages with 26 photographs of the Imperial Family taken by the Empress herself, using her Kodak Brownie Box camera. The photos were taken in 1913-1914 in the Crimea and Tsarskoye Selo.  The size of the album is 24.5×20 cm, the photographs are from 8.5×5.3 to 11.8×9.3 cm. All the photos were personally pasted into the album by Alexandra Feodorovna and Emperor Nicholas II.

This album is one of only two of the Imperial Family’s photo albums, known to the author of this article, that was not included in the state archival funds. The other photo album belonging to Emperor Nicholas II in the Museum of Local Lore in Zlatoust, which is situated 270 kilometers (168 mi) south of Ekaterinburg. 

On a personal note, I am happy that the photo album was purchased by a Russian buyer, rather than sold abroad to a foreign collector. Let us hope, that the album will be gifted to a museum – preferably the Alexander Palace, from where it was taken in August 1917, when the Imperial Family were sent into exile.

FURTHER READING:

Photo album belonging to Russia’s last Empress to be auctioned in St. Petersburg + PHOTOS

© Paul Gilbert. 29 October 2025