Countess Alexandra Tolstoy is selling furniture, rugs and personal treasures that decorated the £12million London home she once shared with her Russian billionaire ex.
The aristocratic beauty, 46, and her three children, Alexei, Ivan and Maria, were evicted from the south London mansion during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic after reportedly being given just 12 days notice by the Russian government, who repossessed the property.
The mansion was purchased by her ex-partner and the father of her children, Sergei Pugachev, 57, who was once dubbed ‘the Kremlin’s banker’ and was close to Vladimir Putin but fell into disfavour and was labelled a ‘traitor’ by the Russian president.
After arriving in the UK in 2011, he was accused of siphoning a fortune out of his finance house Mezhprombank. State creditors in Moscow pursued him in the British courts, claiming he embezzled hundreds of millions.
The oligarch fled to France, where he remains, and was sentenced to two years in his absence by a High Court judge in 2016 for breaching court orders relating to hundreds of millions in allegedly stolen cash.
Pugachev has cut off Alexandra and their children financially, she claims, and she is now auctioning her possessions with Christie’s to mark the ‘start of a new chapter’. The auction house expects the lots to make in the region of £250,000.
Countess Alexandra Tolstoy is selling furniture, rugs and personal treasures from the £12million London home she once shared with her Russian billionaire ex. Among the items for sale are the palace painting and the dolls’ house seen in the image above. The photo was shared on social media as she moved out of the south London home earlier this year
Two Indian architectural paintings of palace gardens mid-20th century. Estimate: £1,000-2,000. Right, An English grey-painted pine dolls house, second half 20th century. Estimate: £1,000-2,000
Pugachev has cut off Alexandra and their children financially, she claims, and she is now selling off her possessions. Christie’s expects the lots to make in the region of £250,000. Pictured, with her three children outside the London home
Alexandra Tolstoy, 45, and Sergei Pugachev, 57, at an event together. Alexandra said her partner fell out with Putin (pictured together right) after they started dating, with the politician calling Sergei ‘a traitor’
A total of 130 items once displayed in the home, including a Scottish Regency bookcase, carved alabaster models and mid-20th century artwork will be auctioned at Christie’s.
Among Alexandra’s favourite pieces are a pair of white upholstered sofas by Katherine Pooley, which are expected to fetch between £4,000-£6,000, and two pairs of 20th century Indian palace paintings which are expected to fetch £1,000-£2,000 a pair.
Alexandra worked closely with the London-based interior designers and decorators Emma Burns and Daniel Slowik of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler Interiors from 2008 onwards to create her family home, where she lived for 12 years. Alexandra also worked with Emma on her home in Moscow.
The interior and collection speaks not only of her love of the traditional English country house, but also of her Russian family heritage, innate personal sense of style and a strong desire to create a special home for her children.
Alexandra said: ‘The sale of the interiors from my Chelsea townhouse at Christie’s London marks a new chapter in my life. There are many treasured items that I sourced and selected over the years with the expert guidance of decorators at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler.
‘It was a great pleasure to be able to fully utilise such a diverse and highly personal selection of works of art, furniture and objects in a family home but also to be surrounded by objects that I took great huge pleasure from every day. I very much hope that these pieces will find a new home and be equally enjoyed.’
Alexandra worked closely with the London-based interior designers and decorators Emma Burns and Daniel Slowik of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler Interiors from 2008 onwards to create her family home, where she lived with her children. The rug, sofas, cushions and club fender pictured above are all for sale. The photo was shared by Alexandra on social media
A late Victorian cast-iron club fender circa, 1900. Estimate: £2,000-4,000
Left, 10 cushions, comprising a set of four gold and white textured-silk cushions, a pair of red gros-point cushions, three geometric gros-point cushions and a large red and white woven cushion. Estimated overall: £2,000-3,000. Right, Ten large cushions; four by Susan Deliss, modern. Estimated: £2,000-£3,000
An American ‘Rag’ carpet 20th century. Estimate: £2,000-4,000
A pair of English brass studded white sofas, by Katharine Pooley, Modern. Estimate: £2,500-4,000
WHO IS SERGEI PUGACHEV?
Sergei Pugachev once owned two major shipyards, the world’s biggest mine and large chunks of real estate in Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as the Mezhprombank, which he co-founded in the 1990s.
He enjoyed a close relatinship with Vladimir Putin, and in 2008 when Sergei’s bank hit problems, the Russian state bailed it out with $1 billion loan.
Sergei amassed enormous wealth from his companies, and lived a lavish lifestyle before becoming an enemy of the Russian state
Sergei, who left Russia in 2011, claims that relations between him and Putin cooled, due to his relationship with the Russian leader calling him a ‘traitor’ for dating ‘English woman’ Alexandra, the Kremlin tried to seize or destroy his business empire.
The Russians then accused him of profiting from vast sums of taxpayers’ money given to Mezhprombank by the Russian central bank at the height of the 2008 economic crisis.
It has since been pursuing Sergei Pugachev through the High Court claiming he illegally siphoned hundreds of millions of pounds from the government bailout of the Mezhprombank.
Authorities froze his assets, put him on Interpol’s wanted list and obtained a court order in Britain forcing him to hand over his passports.
By 2015, he was dividing his time between France and the family home in London and reputed to be number 3 on Kremlin’s hitlist.
Mr Pugachev denies the allegations and claims Moscow is trying to steal £11billion of his assets, including two shipyards and the world’s largest mine.
He has previously been declared to be in contempt of court, with a two-year prison sentence left hanging over his head should he return to this country.
He had been living in France for the past five years after being ordered to give up his passports in 2014.
In Nice, he was visited by the DIA who demanded repayment of the billion dollar loan and threatened his family, saying they could ‘cut off his son’s finger and send it back to him.’
He also claims ‘credible attempts’ had been made on his life in the UK.
The tycoon is in another legal battle with Russia in The Hague where he is suing the Federation for £11billion.
He claims he is being targeted because of his knowledge of state secrets.
Sergei said he enjoyed a ‘very close’ friendship with Russian president Vladimir Putin before falling out, with the politician calling Sergei ‘a traitor’ for dating an ‘English woman’
Pugachev once owned two major shipyards, the world’s biggest mine and large chunks of real estate in Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as the Mezhprombank, which he co-founded in the 1990s.
The couple met in 2008 after Sergei hired Alexandra to help improve his English while they were both living in Russia, where Sergei was once-close friends with Putin.
Speaking of their relationship in a documentary that aired this year, Alexandra said: ‘When I met Sergei it was electric. It was amazing. I fell so in love with him. I’ve never felt such a connection to someone ever.’
Within a year of meeting, they had a baby and another on the way, and were living a life of luxury in London, Moscow and Paris.
Alexandra said: ‘It was incredible, he would give me his credit card and I would go shopping, I had a private jet. I just had to pack my suitcase and I could go.’
Artwork is included in the auction. Among the pieces going under the hammer are two of the pictures seen hanging above the piano. The photo was shared by Alexandra while she was moving out of the property earlier this year
A pair of Regency cut-felt collage pictures of the Goose Woman and ‘Old Bright’ The postman of Frant by George Smart, circa 1820. Estimate: £3,000-5,000
The family moved between an array of properties including a £12million family home in Battersea, a 200-acre country estate in Hertfordshire, and a £40million beachfront villa in St Barts.
But in 2008, Sergei’s bank hit problems and the Russian bank bailed it out with $1 billion loan.
Sergei, who left Russia in 2011, claims that after relations between him and Putin cooled, the Kremlin tried to seize or destroy his business empire.
The Russians then accused him of profiting from vast sums of taxpayers’ money given to Mezhprombank by the Russian central bank at the height of the 2008 economic crisis.
The Russian authorities froze his assets, put him on Interpol’s wanted list and obtained a court order in Britain forcing him to hand over his passports.
By 2015, he was dividing his time between France and the family home in London and claimed to be number 3 on Kremlin’s hitlist.
This A Scottish Regency oak library bookcase (right) used to stand proud in Alexandra’s Chelsea home (left, on the day she was packing up to leave). The early 19th century piece has an estimate £4,000-6,000
State creditors in Moscow pursued him in the British courts, claiming he embezzled hundreds of millions.
Pugachev fled to France before the 2016 High Court ruling in a case brought by Russia’s Deposit Insurance Agency, in which he was sentenced for 12 breaches of court orders connected to a freezing order imposed on him over attempts to recover the cash.
In the February 2016 High Court judgment, no ruling was made on the allegations of embezzled cash and Pugachev told the court he had ‘not stolen any money’. In her judgment jailing him, Mrs Justice Rose noted he ‘does have a genuine fear that his life is in danger from agents of the Russian state’.
Anne-Jessica Faure, a lawyer for Mr Pugachev, said there has been no court decision establishing financial wrongdoing by him.
On the order of the High Court, the family home was put on the market and Alexandra made a deal with the Russian government to drop her claim to his fortune.
Alexandra Tolstoy: An Interior by Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler selling online at Christie’s from 4 – 25 November
Other Tolstoy treasures up for sale…
An Anglo-Dutch black-and-gilt Japanned press cupboard Circa 1700. Estimate: £2,500-4,000
A pair of Indian architectural paintings of palace gardens. Mid-20th Century. Estimate: £1,000-2,000
An Italian walnut large refectory table, late 18th/early 19th century. Estimate: £2,000-4,000
A Regency cut out collage of The Maid and Soldier by George Smart circa 1820. Estimate: £3,000-5,000. Right, Three Italian carved alabaster ‘Grand Tour’ models of Pisa, 19th century. Estimate: £3,000-5,000