A candy box from the Ramona Candy and Chocolate Factory of Princess E. Oldenburg

A very rare and interesting box in satisfactory preservation. Dimensions 310*130*130 mm. Tinplate, painted. Guarantee of authenticity.

The Russian Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries had favorable conditions for the development of women's entrepreneurship. From 40 to 50% of the "businesswomen" were noblewomen, and among them was Princess Eugenie (1845-1925), nee Duchess of Leuchtenberg, married Oldenburg. In 1878, she became the rightful owner of Ramoni, a large estate of more than 4,000 hectares with a prosperous farm. According to one version, she received such a generous gift (an additional 100,000 rubles in silver) for the wedding from Alexander II. The Ramona Steam Factory of Sweets and Chocolates of Her Imperial Highness Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna of Oldenburg is the full name of the candy factory. Evgenia Maksimovna made it in a short time (about 30 years) produce up to 400 types of sweet products: chocolate, montpensier, caramel, marmalade. Oldenburg chocolate has even been featured at a number of international exhibitions: in 1903, it was awarded a gold medal in London, and a year later it received the Grand Prix at the Paris and Brussels exhibitions. And in order for sweets to be appreciated not only in Ramoni, a railway line was brought to the factory, along which sweets and chocolate went to the markets of other provinces of the Russian Empire and foreign countries. Princess Eugenie spent several months a year at the estate and supervised the household. She had a talent for the modern profession of marketing. She arranged advertising campaigns: she put the names of children from painted figures on the wrapper, sketches for which were prepared by famous artists (Alexander Benois, Leon Bakst) or put a postcard in the packaging — all the fashionistas of that time wanted to collect a complete collection. The ladies depicted on them were mistaken by the unenlightened inhabitants of Ramoni for Catherine I, Catherine II or Evgenia Maximilianovna.

In her absence, the hired manager was in charge of the affairs. This was one of the reasons for the collapse of the industry: back in 1897, Evgenia, in order to increase profitability, transferred the main responsibilities to Koch, who bought several thousand acres of land and improved equipment for the sugar factory. However, after he took out a loan and began speculating on products, the farm began to suffer huge losses. By the beginning of the 20th century, they had reached more than 4 million rubles. They decided to ask for help from the imperial family, Nicholas II even gathered a family council, to which Finance Minister V.N. Kokovtsov was invited. The majority opposed providing financial assistance — the husband should help his wife, not members of the royal family. Despite the protest, by order of Nicholas II, Princess Eugenie was given a financial "allowance" from the treasury in the amount of 2.5 million rubles and a loan from the State Bank for 2 million rubles. But in the end, the case could not be resolved — in 1907, the estate was bought from the princess and transferred to the property of the imperial family. After all, after a major fire that lasted 2 weeks, it became all the more unprofitable to keep a ruined business: previously, not everyone could afford products from a member of the imperial family ()information from the website http://xn----7sbbhpgxivjatewnc5m.xn--p1ai/%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%84%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%81%D1%8B/