Hunting for art and antiques in a country that forbids the export of anything more than 50 years old seems an exercise in futility. But it's little known that some items can, in fact, be taken out legally. Folk art is one such permissible category, and the eccentric owners of Larusse (3 Stremyannaya Ulitsa; 7-812/572-2043; larusse.com) run St. Petersburg's leading showcase for it. Beware: They often decline to sell their best pieces, although on a recent visit we were able to pry from their clutches a 19th-century copy of an armchair from the early 1700s ($835). At Sokrovishcha Peterburga (4 Vladimirskiy Prospekt; 7-812/764-5018) the furniture leaves much to be desired, but in this shop next to the Radisson Hotel we found a selection of 19th-century beaded purses inlaid with silver and tortoiseshell ($100–$900) as well as various other local crafts.
Solving the Antiques Ban
