Maria Pavlovna Grand Duchess of Russia wrote in November 1918…

The set of emeralds was bought by King Alexander of Serbia in 1922 for Mignon

In November 1918, Marie Pavlovna, daughter of Paul Alexandrovich Grand Duke of Russia, was in Odessa facing the approacing Bolsheviks. She wrote there a last impression on her father, who was in prison at Peter and Paul Fortress in Petrograd:

“My Father, Nicolas Michailovich, George Michailovich, Dmitri Konstantinovich and Gabriel (one of the many sons of Uncle Kostia) were put into prison this summer by the Bolsheviks where Papa has now been for over three months and the others for about four… Papa’s health has not been strong the last few years and these 20 months of revolution have tired him surely; he wants good food and much care and now he is deprived of both. He spends his days in a little cell, dark and damp and wants all his courage and extraordinarily self-control not to breakdown under such dreadful circumstances”.

In January 1919 Paul Alexandrovich with other grand-dukes were murdered by the Bolsheviks. The news reached Maria Pavlovna (Putiatin) via England to her then place of exile in Romania. Maria Pavlovna Grand Duchess of Russia sold many of her jewels during the exile years, like the emerald set: the tiara and necklace from the image which was sold in 1922 to King Alexander of Serbia who gave it as a wedding gift to his wife Mignon, Princess of Romania.

http://royalromania.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/marie-pavlovnas-letter-1920/