The Museum of Russian Samovar

I have been collecting samovars for most of my life. At the moment, the museum has 250 samovars, not counting rinsing bowls, pipes, coffee pots, sugar bowls, teapots, sandboxes, and more. Soon, I will change the exposition a little as I have about a hundred more samovars. We are called the “Museum of Russian Samovars”, because the main exposition consists of Russian samovars, but, nevertheless, we have two stands where their European and Eastern analogues are presented.

The first samovar ever made is a very sensitive topic. Collecting always starts with the simplest things, and for each collector everything develops in a similar way. When an individual decides to collect samovars, he usually finds a simple “jar”, and the very first thing that catches his eye is medals; and he or she thinks, “I now have a royal samovar with medals; I am a great collector!” Then he or she finds a samovar of a different style with medals, picks up a certain number of them, and once the collector has no space left at home on the sideboard, there is an interest in learning something about manufacturers. The search begins for information about the Medvedevs, Vorontsovs, and Batashevs. Then the collector learns there are other rare styles of samovars. Gradually, the collector’s interest in the first samovars is disappearing. The collection bar is always rising as it is not the quantity of samovars that matters, but the quality. Brand samovars of Konstantin Yakovlevich Pets, Alexander Kach, and Peter Pavlovich Sevryugin appear…