07:18

[Music – Red Sails In The Sunset by Casani Club Orchestra, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s]

Section 2 – History & Historiography

[Music Fade Out]

07:31

Even in troubling times, there are certain luxuries that never seem to be denied.  In fact, they might even increase in desirability.

An ongoing historical delicacy involves eating salt cured fish eggs, known or referred as roe and with the most prestigious form being caviar.  While these might be harvested from several different species of fish including salmon, the most coveted, prestigious, and only properly termed caviar comes from sturgeon.  There are 24 different species of sturgeon worldwide.  This prehistoric fish has a long life span and reaches maturity far later in life often 10-15 years or later.  The species, location, and age will affect the flavor with a preference being for older sturgeons aged around 40-50 years and especially the Beluga sturgeon coming from the Caspian Sea.

08:24

The first known mention of caviar is by Aristotle.  In Ancient Greece, caviar is consumed at a banquet with flowers and sometimes as a dessert.  The tradition spread from Byzantine Empire into Russia.  Until the Middle Ages, Persians serve the eggs crushed.  The term caviar comes from Persian “khavyar” meaning cake of strength for the medicinal powers associated with it.  British kings reserved the fish for themselves, and sturgeon is referred as royal fish or tsar’s fish depending on the regions.  In the 14^th Century, Venetian *ships will bring caviar from the Black Sea into Europe.  By the 1500s, caviar is deemed a luxury item when it became referred as “imperial caviar” in Russia and served on toast or unsalted crackers.  Peter the Great himself was fascinated by the delicate treat.  The term caviar gets used as an obscure and unknown reference by Shakespeare’s Hamlet referring to some play as “caviar to the general”. Galileo is a fan, while French scholar Rabelais considers it ridiculous.

09:26

In the early 19^th century, America produces so much caviar from the overabundance of North American sturgeon that the price was only a nickel and would be served for free in saloons because the saltiness would make customers more thirsty.  Naturally, it is first the American tradition of internationally importing caviar by a German immigrant Henry Schacht in 1873.

09:47

But the luxury trend we relate to caviar today is primarily a result of the mass disarray from the end of World War I and the Russian Revolution.  The influx of dispossessed Russian nobility may not have been able to take much of their wealth, but they did bring their expensive tastes with them.  Many relocate to none other than Paris.  In protest of the Bolshevik agenda, former nobles and aristocrats continue to carry on the high culture they had left involving the arts, including music, ballet, and of course caviar.  During the 1920s, Paris creates the trend of eating caviar on top of blinis and with champagne. 1930s cruise ships will also feature caviar as part of their elaborate 10 course meals.

10:30

Now here is where things get a bit weird and also convoluted.  I have not uncovered the answer to my question.  Where exactly does all this caviar come from? 

The appearance in Paris is heavily related to two brothers Melkoum and Mouchegh Petrossian. They are referred both as Iranian Christians and Armenian.  According to the online Armeniapedia.com, the brothers were born on the Iranian side of the Caspian Sea but raised on the Russian side, likely coming from a silkworm farm in Tiflis, Georgia (same region of our prevalent Marrying Mdivani siblings).  The Petrossian brothers fled the region after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 interrupted their law and medical studies.  In 1920, they set up the first boutique in Paris’ Left Bank specializing in caviar and selling to hotels especially the Place Vendome.  By the 1930s, the Petrossians further solidify business relations with the Soviet authorities to ensure their supply.  To this day, the Petrossian label remains the premium caviar brand (and follows strict ethical and law-abiding practices), and it is still a family run business over four generations.

11:45

For the next several decades, the Soviets tightly hold onto control of the very profitable caviar trade.

Ironically and not ironically if you pay enough attention to human nature, even the proletariat communist Bolsheviks hang onto the caviar tradition.  Even a lowly Bolshevik might keep a tin in his home for a special celebration, such as New Year or World War II Victory Day then eat it with extreme deference and modest portions.  Caviar and champagne are in abundance at the 1953 Soviet embassy celebration of the Bolshevik Revolution.

12:19

There is a phrase in France “the gauche caviar” translated as the “caviar left.”  The same as the “champagne socialist” meaning someone who professes to claim socialist values while indulging in the hypocritical luxuries and elite related lifestyles.  The phrase is commonly used to attack political opponents especially during 1980s French politics.  The meaning should certainly be getting a new rise in light of more recent incidents relating to the last 2 years under the pandemic and certain movements.

12:47

In contrast to the Petrossian family, Makaroff / Makarov is from a Russian noble family dating back to Catherine the Great and her son Emperor Paul I from whom the Makarov dynasty first received their coat of arms in 1801.  There are many illustrious members of the family since that time.

When it comes to Count Vadim Makaroff, it is a bit harder to find anything on him in relation to the caviar business.  It might be partially due to his name.  Sometimes referred as Vadim and others as Vladimir. Within my sources, Vadim Makaroff is not mentioned prior to his marriage to Josephine Hartford.

13:22

Now the only prior specifics I have in regard to Caviar Makaroff is in a court case United States v. Makaroff.

On December 14, 1926, United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals reviews which section of the Tariff Act of 1922 should be applied in relation to the duty applied to the importation of “fresh caviar” in tins.  Makaroff wins the appeal to be reclassified away from the 30% duty according to Paragraph 721 for ice or frozen products which specifies in particular “caviar and other fish roe for food purposes, packed in ice or frozen, prepared or preserved by the addition of salt in any amount.” 

Instead the court determines that the processing and manufacturing of the Makaroff caviar product is neither preserved in salt but merely brine washed as done in common fish prepping procedures.  Furthermore, the product is not hermetically sealed nor packed in ice or frozen though does require refrigeration to not spoil.  Therefore the product is both “fresh caviar” or “fresh unsalted caviar” with a sweet taste although slightly salty flavor, and the duty should be charged at the 10 per centum ad valorem rate (meaning 10% according to value) as applied in Paragraph 1459.  The previous judgment was reversed upon this appeal.

14:44

Now, in today’s times that might sound a little trivial.  But the amount of a few cents multiplied over large importation could become quite expensive.  As well, I found one ad for Wolferman’s Grocery Chain selling caviar tins for 9 cents.  Thus possibly significantly increasing the price against competition.  I am quite sure the 9 cent variant is not nearly of the same quality, but still a relevant marker of prices in 1931.

15:11

The Caviar King as Vadim Makaroff became known is one of the largest importers of caviar to the United States.  However most of the press I can locate involves his marriage and relationship to Josephine Hartford or his father.

His father Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov supervised the development of the modern polar icebreaker steamship Yermak and two more icebreaker steamships to connect the Trans-Siberian Railway across Lake Baikal.  In 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War, Stepan dies when his ship struck a naval mine and the ship’s magazine exploded. 

15:45

Following his father’s lead, Count Vadim Makaroff becomes an officer in the Russian imperial navy and serves as a commander during World War I.  During this position, he will also spend time in Washington, D.C., working with US naval forces.  In the years after the Revolution, Count Vadim Makaroff develops many interests and abilities.  First, Vadim starts a caviar business Makaroff & Company then expands into oil and machinery. 

16:11

Soon Vadim will return to his love of the sea and developing naval technology, one being his yacht Vamarie in 1933 and even competes in races at Newport, Rhode Island.  By the end of Vadim’s life, he is noted as a naval and oil-well technology inventor and a significant contributor to the US Naval Academy in Russian intelligence and the advancement of both naval science & technology.  He will donate his yacht Vamarie prior to World War II as a long term training vessel at the Naval Academy.  There are several online accounts of people remembering fondly more recently their time aboard this vessel.

16:46

Vadim is fiercely loyal to his new country and is staunchly against all things Bolshevik.  He will also be a devoted member of the White Russian Tolstoy Foundation in the latter half of his life and will work closely with Countess Alexandra Tolstoy, the daughter of author Leo Tolstoy. 

While things like caviar might be a coveted treat, true loyalty and devotion are luxuries that one should never take for granted.