Russian Sales Fall

Recession has hit the November sales of Russian art in London. Auction houses Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonham's and Russian specialist MacDougall's have all reported disappointing sales. This nautical silver soup tureen, which once belonging to Russian Tsarina Catherine II, was estimated to be worth £400,000 to £600,000, but it failed to reach its reserve price and didn't sell. Oh, hard cheese. Too rococo, maybe?