After triumphant tours in the United States, Rostropovich was invited to the Soviet embassy and explained that the lion's share of the fee he should pay to the embassy. Rostropovich did not object, he only asked his Impresario Yurok to buy a porcelain vase for the entire fee and deliver it to the embassy in the evening, where the reception was appointed. They delivered an unimaginable beauty vase, Rostropovich took it, admired it and... scattered his hands. The vase, hitting the marble floor, flew into pieces. Taking one of them and carefully wrapped in a nose-shirt, he said to the ambassador:
This is mine and the rest is yours.