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The seller of this Kirov set claims that it was home-made outside of the factory by the cousin of the original owner. An interesting story, whether true or not:
“This set has 7 nesting dolls altogether, and has been painted with aniline dyes and then enhanced with inlaid-wood designs. The dolls were made in a home by two freelance craftsmen--surreptitiously, I might add, because making these wooden toys outside government-run factories was discouraged. The Soviet toy factories sold their output to foreign tourists through the Beriozka (foreign currency store). Needless to say, factory workers were poorly paid, prompting the growth of an underground economy including illegal wood-crafting. Because they had no restrictions as to design and production time, illegal woodcrafters made more elaborate and more imaginative matryoska than did the factories.”
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