It was the winter of 1975 when Philippe received the invitation to view a privately held collection of antiquities. Traveling by train for two days, he arrived in the study of a mansion on St. Petersburg’s Griboyedov Canal. Settling into a Louis XIV bergère beside the fireplace, he was enveloped by the scents of leather- bound books, the crackling fire, and the steam of black tea from a spectac- ular samovar. Mischa appeared in the doorway. “Tea first?” Then, in regard to Philippe’s obvious obsession with the samovar, “Tombak bronze, circa 1775.”
