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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Opulent baubles and historic photographs collected by the family of the Russian prince who plotted Rasputin's assassination have been donated to Russia's national archive.
The collection, including a richly decorated Faberge egg and a pocket watch made for the coronation of Russia's last czar, was presented Friday to the archive by tycoon Viktor Vekselberg, who bought them last year.
The items come from the estate of Prince Felix Yusupov and his wife, who lived in exile in Paris after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Yusupov, one of the conspirators in the 1916 killing of Rasputin, the religious mystic who exerted huge influence over Czar Nicholas II's household, particularly his wife.
Vekselberg has devoted much of his fortune to acquiring Faberge eggs and other Russian craftwork.
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