The Russian Archives
-What is an archive? : an archive is a collection of documents on the same subject, it can be a particular personality, a family, a secret society such as the one we exhumed; the Russian Brotherhood of Truth through the conservation and study of the archives of Andre Balashov... It can take different forms such as manuscripts, tapuscrits, letters, postcards, photographs, objects, drawings...
-What is an archive worth, what is the value of an archive: to determine the estimate of an archive, it is necessary to have a global and fairly precise vision of the subject at first and then identify what may be most interesting for our clients. We could think that the historical interest prevailed when it concerned the History of Russia but we were able to see that archives concerning a «secondary» Russian family or the existence of a society, of a particular brotherhood could stimulate private buyers or public institutions.
The first thing you need when you’re looking at archives is time. Indeed, the sale of an archive requires a lot of time for research on the subject first but also around it in order to better integrate it into history and make it its place; a real work of archaeologist to which our expert Ms Ekaterina Nikolaeva Tendil devoted herself for more than three years and eight sales with the archives of André Balashov and the Russian Brotherhood of Truth , she became an undisputed expert on this secret society having access to a mass of unpublished documents.
-Who can give an estimate?  A auctioneer assisted by a Russian art expert belonging to a union remains the best formula.  For several years, the Cazo study has been collaborating with Ekaterina NikolaevaTendil, an expert in Russian art and member of the SFEP (French Union of Professional Experts in Art Objects)
- How to sell, and especially how to sell well its archives:   you must go to an auctioneer who will organize an auction thus creating a real competition between buyers, but who must also have a full Russian specialty with the assistance of an expert, preferably Russian, who understands Cyrillic better but also Russian culture and history.
The fact that a study already has this “Russian Art” specialty means that it has built up, over the years and as sales are organized, a solid customer database both nationally and internationally, customers who subscribe to our newsletter, who rate and look forward to our sales dates to bid.
If you would like to meet us for a first contact, an estimate request or photo, you can contact us by phone at + 33 1 45 55 18 66 or by email: contact@cazoparis.com
Looking forward to meeting you

Wilfrid CAZO
Auctioneer/Auctioneer