This parure and lot 166 will be sold to benefit the Elemer Hantos Foundation for Central Europe. Mr Hantos (1880-1942) was an economist at the University of Budapest and also acted as the Austro-Hungarian Empire's last Secretary of State under King Charles IV of Hungary (also referred to as Emperor Charles VI of Austria). He was well-known for his efforts to create a Danubian economic confederation. In his opinion, prosperity lay in general economic cooperation amongst countries. To this end, he established a series of institutes in Budapest, Brno, Geneva and Vienna. Although the association of states he worked so assiduously to secure never came to fruition, the family fortune has now been donated to inaugurate the above mentioned foundation whose purpose will be to further the common economic good of Central Europe. The present suite belonged to Mr Hantos' wife, Caroline de Wolfner, who was the heiress to a fortune deriving from a leather concern in Budapest.