Nikolai Nemirov-Kolodkin

(1874 - 1918)

Nikolai Vasilyevich Nemirov was born in Vologda in 1819, into a merchant family. During his youth he lost both his parents and moved to Moscow in 1843.  In early 1850s he started working as a clerk for the silver merchant Ivan Ivanovich Kolodkin. Ivan Kolodkin didn’t have children and named Nikolai his heir, giving him his surname.

After Ivan’s death in 1874, Nikolai Nemirov-Kolodkin took over the business. The company rapidly grew and the high quality of their products became popular both in Russia and abroad. From 1876 the company regularly received commissions from the Imperial court. In 1872 the firm had opened a small factory and by the end of 1870s it owned five shops on Silver Row in Moscow.

In 1877 Nikolai was elected member of the Moscow Duma. In 1880 he made his four nephews business partners and the following year he opened a larger factory and a shop at 9 Ilinka Street.

Nikolai received several awards, including the Order of St. Stanislaus and St. Anne and in 1883 was made honorary citizen of Moscow.

At his death in 1886, he left the company to his nephews who managed to enhance the business and received the title of purveyor to the court of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna (1910–17). In 1918 due to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution the company was forced to close.