Black Market Bolsheviks and The Tsar’s Golden Eggs

Don Swann II
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  • True Crime
  • Updated Semiweekly

Where did the Romanov treasures go after the Russian Revolution? Welcome to Black Market Bolsheviks & The Tsar’s Golden Eggs, an investigative true crime and dark history podcast exploring history’s greatest royal liquidation. In July 1918, Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family were executed in Yekaterinburg, leaving behind 18 pounds of blood-stained diamonds sewn into their corsets. Desperate for hard currency, foreign weapons, and grain, Vladimir Lenin and the Soviet regime created Gokhran—a secret Moscow vault packed with gold, rubies, and the legendary Fabergé Easter Eggs crafted by Pet

Episodes

  1. Aug 17

    The Missing Seven

    Episode 7: The Missing Seven A scrap dealer nearly melted a $33 million imperial treasure for spare change. Six more Fabergé eggs are still missing, maybe forever. Black Market Bolsheviks hunts the seven lost Imperial Easter Eggs, and the forgery market built on desperate hope. What You'll Discover: the exiled refugee who single-handedly rebuilt the Fabergé registry from memory, the forensic science used to catch modern fakes, and why most treasure leads go nowhere. The Birth Certificate: 50 eggs made, 43 accounted for, 7 gone since the revolution. True crime history, forensic gemology, real obsession.

  2. Aug 17

    Armand Hammer, Stalin's Favorite Capitalist

    Episode 3: Armand Hammer, Stalin's Favorite Capitalist A father's prison sentence. A nation's famine. One American turned both into a sixty-year fortune. Black Market Bolsheviks profiles Armand Hammer, the "Doctor" who left famine relief a capitalist, blending real looted treasure with reproductions no one could prove weren't real. What You'll Discover: the pencil factory hiding in plain sight, the guaranteed imperial label that meant nothing, and the intelligence file that never closed. The Birth Certificate: 1921, Moscow, a doctor who never practiced medicine again. True crime history, forensic detail, an American original.

  3. Aug 17

    The Smuggler's Fleet

    Melted church silver. Forged diplomatic seals. A gunrunner who became a foreign minister. Black Market Bolsheviks follows Maxim Litvinov's Baltic smuggling fleet, the operation that funded a broke revolution and became the blueprint for Soviet intelligence tradecraft for decades after. What You'll Discover: the foundry that erased a church's history, the loophole that turned crates into untouchable diplomatic pouches, and the pistol Litvinov kept under his pillow. The Birth Certificate: 1921, the Gulf of Finland, midnight. True crime history, maritime tradecraft, real consequences.

  4. Aug 17

    UNDER THE HAMMER: THE 1927 CHRISTIE’S SALE

    A crown fit for a bride. A gavel that didn't care whose blood paid for it. In 1927, Christie's London auctioned 124 lots of Romanov jewels seized by the Bolsheviks, while exiled Russians watched their own family history sell for pennies on the pound. What You'll Discover: the real fate of the Romanov Nuptial Crown, the dealer who profited laundering stolen royal treasure, and a smuggling legend that isn't quite true. The Birth Certificate: March 16, 1927, King Street, London, the day an empire's jewels went under the hammer. Black market history, forensic detail, zero angry politics.

  5. Aug 16

    The Gokhran & The Bulletproof Diamonds

    "Bullets bounced off the Grand Duchesses. What the executioners didn’t know was that 18 pounds of royal diamonds were sewn into their corsets." In July 1918, the execution of the Romanov family in a Yekaterinburg cellar launched the largest state-sponsored art heist in modern history. Facing economic collapse, famine, and civil war, Vladimir Lenin created Gokhran—a secret state depository crammed floor-to-ceiling with stolen Tsarist gold, emerald diadems, and Fabergé masterpieces. In this series premiere of Black Market Bolsheviks & The Tsar’s Golden Eggs, hosts Julian and Elena uncover the dark, true-crime paper trail behind history’s greatest royal liquidation. Inside this episode: The Bulletproof Corsets: How blood-stained imperial diamonds became the seed money for a starving Soviet regime. Appraisals at Gunpoint: Agathon Fabergé dragged from a Soviet prison to evaluate his own family's golden legacy. The Tallinn Pipeline: How covert couriers smuggled stolen gems across European borders inside diplomatic pouches. 🎧 Hit Follow to track down the missing paper trail.

  • 5 Episodes

About

Where did the Romanov treasures go after the Russian Revolution? Welcome to Black Market Bolsheviks & The Tsar’s Golden Eggs, an investigative true crime and dark history podcast exploring history’s greatest royal liquidation. In July 1918, Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family were executed in Yekaterinburg, leaving behind 18 pounds of blood-stained diamonds sewn into their corsets. Desperate for hard currency, foreign weapons, and grain, Vladimir Lenin and the Soviet regime created Gokhran—a secret Moscow vault packed with gold, rubies, and the legendary Fabergé Easter Eggs crafted by Pet

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