Thank you Andrey for your historical post on Efim Grachev. You mentioned "Victoria" as being in Efim Grachev's collection. Tatiana's Tomatobase doesn't show much on information on this variety. [URL]http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Victoria[/URL]
I am quite interested in "Victoria" and would like to know if you have more information on it. Thanks again.
Dutch

Tomato King Umberto is an ancient vegetable that dates back to the nineteenth century. The story tells how the name is a tribute to Umberto I of Savoy, when as King of Italy visited Naples for the first time in 1878.
Vladimír

Vladimir,
Efim Grachev passed away in 1877. That means King Humbert tomato is older than 1878...
And yes, I know that Umberto I has became the King in 1878... So the history is an interesting thing. I see only one explaination in this case - Efim Grachev's Son Vladimir who has became a follower of fathers seed shop and a passion for growing vegetables, breeding and collecting seeds has got King Humbert seeds after 1878...

Dutch,
I don't know much about Victoria. It was mentioned in 1898 Seed Catalog of Vladimir Grachev along with many Burpee and Henderson vegetable varieties. Victoria tomato - red, plum shaped, very prolific according to description.
Other tomatoes there: Shah, Early Ruby, The Peach, Excelsior, Mikado, King Humbert, Wins All, Tom Thumb, Fikarazzi, President Garfield and some Russian varieties.
[IMG]http://allday1.com/imagedb/4f/0/df7e147ebacb9bdd93d1cff3021fc.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=MrBig46;554502]Tomato King Umberto is an ancient vegetable that dates back to the nineteenth century. The story tells how the name is a tribute to Umberto I of Savoy, when as King of Italy visited Naples for the first time in 1878.
Vladimír[/QUOTE]

Vladimir, I did find the glassine envelopes that Kath sent back with the several varieties that Roberta in Italy sent to me,and those will be offered in the next seed offer, and as I expected Umberto was not there and that because what she described was no different from what I already knew from other threads at other places..And especially the pictures and descriptions shown at Ventmarin in France.

And I did find Roberta's website as well

[url]http://www.antichevarieta.it/pomodori.html[/url]

I already clicked on pomodori to show which varieties she is selling seeds for and you'll see mostly non Italian varieties and that's b/c she wanted to build a website with mostly non-Italian ones so that folks in her area had more access to them.

However,she grows all of her tomatoes at a farm where she says traditional Italian ones are also grown and that's where she got the ones she sent me.

At the bottom of the page is an e-mail link for her,so why don't you e-mail her,mention my name and see if she remembers me, I think she will,,and share with her your search for what you call original Roi Umberto and see what she has to say about that.

Hope that helps,

Carolyn

Carolyn, thank you for the information.
Vladimír

[QUOTE=MrBig46;555511]Carolyn, thank you for the information.
Vladimír[/QUOTE]

And I'll be looking forward to what you find out from Roberta.:)

Carolyn

Carolyn,
I will try to. It will take me longer than I write this mail because English is still a problem for me.
Vladimír

[QUOTE=MrBig46;555600]Carolyn,
I will try to. It will take me longer than I write this mail because English is still a problem for me.
Vladimír[/QUOTE]

I understand your English very well and so do others. Sometimes there is a word that you don't understand,you ask, and someone tells you what it means.

Would it be easier if I e-mailed Roberta and told her that you have been looking for the original Umberto,and if possible,where it was first named,and that b/c there are different stories about that.

Then she can e-mail me back and I can either cut and paste to here what she said or if you feel comfortable giving me your e-mail address I can forward her response to you.

Your choice.

Carolyn

Carolyn,
I would be very glad if you helped me. If Robert could send me some seeds Re Umberto, I pay it. My e-mail is ... [email]vgross@seznam.cz[/email]
Thank you in advance Vladimir

[QUOTE=MrBig46;555846]Carolyn,
I would be very glad if you helped me. If Robert could send me some seeds Re Umberto, I pay it. My e-mail is ... [email]vgross@seznam.cz[/email]
Thank you in advance Vladimir[/QUOTE]

I will try to reach Roberta,she is a she,this weekend, and don't worry about paying anything since no doubt I'll offer her some of my newer varieties that she's never heard of that I'm sure will interest her,and that's much better for her than paying anything connected with money.;):)

Carolyn

Whew! Lots of reading and lots of links trying to figure out what to put in my notes about this tomato.

Has anybody grown the King Humbert out lately? Was wondering what your fruit looked and tasted like. I was going through my seed box and deciding what to grow for this year and I have a few seeds of King Hubert from a friend in Canada. Was kinda wondering what to expect.

[QUOTE=Starlight;623931]Whew! Lots of reading and lots of links trying to figure out what to put in my notes about this tomato.

Has anybody grown the King Humbert out lately? Was wondering what your fruit looked and tasted like. I was going through my seed box and deciding what to grow for this year and I have a few seeds of King Hubert from a friend in Canada. Was kinda wondering what to expect.[/QUOTE]

It doesn't matter if someone has grown it lately, it matters on which version of it was grown

The link below is a MUST read.

[url]http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=29786&highlight=king+humbert[/url]

Carolyn

Ahhhhhh! Thanks Carolyn. Guess I'll grow some of my seed out and see what I get. Maybe then somebody can tell me what I possibly have.

Did the oldest version of Umberto being grown ever get established?