Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 8, 1991 TAG: 9104080329
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
James Blair Lovell, a Washington author who has spent nearly 20 years writing a book on Anastasia Manahan, said he saw the treasures, many of them czarist heirlooms, during visits with the woman and her husband, John E. Manahan.
"If these things were destroyed . . . it is a crime against history," Lovell said.
Anastasia, who claimed to be Anastasia Romanov, daughter of the Czar Nicholas II, died in 1984. She left several Romanov family heirlooms given to her by European royal family members who believed her claim, Lovell said.
Manahan died March 22, 1990. The artifacts at one time were in his University Circle house, buried under worthless papers, and the urine and feces of the more than 60 cats he and his wife kept, Lovell said.
Manahan bequeathed the house, a neighboring apartment building and his Albemarle County farm to Althea Hurt, daughter of Charlottesville developer Charles Hurt.
Several of Manahan's cousins have filed a lawsuit in Albemarle County Circuit Court claiming Hurt unfairly took control of Manahan's estate.
The suit challenges Manahan's will, claiming Hurt coerced Manahan into naming her as a major beneficiary after Manahan slipped into a debilitating mental state.
The suit does not mention the artifacts, which Lovell estimated were worth $5 million.
Hurt, who lives in the University Circle house, said Lovell's claim is an attempt to promote his book at her expense.
European royalty began showering Anastasia with gifts shortly after German authorities found her in 1920. But many, including Nicholas' mother, didn't believe the young woman was Anastasia Romanov.
Some think Anastasia was killed at Ekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains with the rest of the family, their bodies dismembered and destroyed in acid.
But others think the princess survived the 1918 assassination of the Russian imperial family and escaped the Bolsheviks with the help of a White Russian soldier.
Anastasia, also known as Anna Anderson, moved to Charlottesville in 1968 and married Manahan to avoid deportation to Germany. She lost most of her possessions after moving here, Lovell said. She and Manahan traveled across the country to buy Romanov artifacts in an attempt to put her collection back together.
Lovell's list of treasures includes, among many other items: a centuries-old Russian icon with a metal picture of Mary and Jesus that Lovell said is worth $1 million; a handkerchief embroidered with Nicholas II's monogram and imperial crown; a life-size oil portrait of Nicholas II; and a Faberge egg and enamel frame with a porcelain portrait of Anastasia as a child.
Manahan also had the only painted-from-life portrait in the Western Hemisphere of King Phillip II of Spain, Lovell said.
A friend of Hurt's who unsuccessfully bid on Manahan's book collection said he does not understand how Lovell could have found the items Lovell says were in the house.
"You couldn't tell what was in there because it was a filthy, horrible mess," said bookshop owner Sandy McAdams.
by CNB