Hey – Happy Birthday. I hope you are finding some great new places to treat yourself and celebrate here.

“Dear Sir,

Since you already have a collection of artifacts I thought the following photo might be of interest to you. I knew your story reminded me of something I had seen on a Russian nesting doll site….this is supposed to be based on the Nutcracker story, but note just how much the Nutcracker figure looks like a pre-mummified Folker, especially in the nose and mouth area. Also note that the woman is holding and seemingly communicating with it in the next nesting doll; again, many similarities….red hair, the same shaped eyes (must be pre-arrow trick). My suspicion is that the next figure may be of the actual mortician that mummified his body (that would be the secret embalming fluid in his hand, probably made from an extract of walnuts). I also think it quite illuminating that the figure after that has an eye patch on the same exact eye as Lady Zakharova lost! Not exactly sure what the rat symbolizes…perhaps the person that dropped a dime to the Russian secret service?
There was no mention of the artist that created this nesting doll set, was there any mention of a child? Perhaps this comes from a story passed down through the generations.
Of course, there’s no proof that this is based on LZ’s sad tale, but often fairy tales are an embellishment of real life history…so do you think….maybe?
You have my permission to use this letter on your site if you wish to elaborate on the idea, but please keep my name anonymous, because if you do think this might be historically related to LZ’s period then I may want to purchase this piece to start my own collection, and I wouldn’t want them to drive the price up.
Sincerely,
a Raisa Zakharova fan”

Thanks Leah! Actually I’m not. The world’s foremost authority was German proffesor Hans Bender from the Freiburg im Breisgau University. He died in 1991. And I believe this must be in Wikipedia