Original enameled cup made for the coronation of Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna on May 18, 1896, measuring 4″ tall and 3.75″ in diameter, featuring an elaborate design with the initials of the royal couple in Cyrillic below an Imperial crown. The opposite side bears an image of the Imperial Russian Eagles surmounted by the crown. In fine condition, with a few chips along the rim; a much better example than typically seen.
On the morning of the coronation, hundreds of thousands of revelers gathered at Khodynka Field in Moscow to observe the ceremonies and receive these commemorative cups, a great novelty for the period. A false rumor swept through the crowd that the cups contained gold coins, causing a riot to ensue as people tried to obtain cups before the limited supply ran out. Over a thousand people were trampled to death in the chaos—an omen of things to come during Nicholas’s reign—and these souvenirs thus became known as the ‘Khodynka Cup of Sorrows.’ A superb relic that breathes history with its association to the last Romanov leader.
