Till the end of the 19th century and in the first decade of the 20th
century Arkhangelsk cats were exhibited in one class together with
British and French blue short-furry cats.

At the turn of the centuries Mrs. Carry-Cox became the most famous
selectionist of Arkhangelsk blue cats. She imported cats from Russia and she
was the first to give them a testimonial. There were apparently bicolours
among the cats that had been exported.  They may have been bred
side by side with one-colour ones at first. It accounts for the appearance
of white spots at times, of medallions and hairs in the later breeding up to
the present days. In 1893 Mrs. Carry-Cox brought the cat Boyard (DOB 1898) and later Julia (DOB 1901) from Arkhangelsk. Today we can see the pictures of Julia and Boyard. They are a little bit more thick-set than the modern Russian blue cats, the form of the head is more brightly-outlined, one can't help noticing a moustache cushion; a
posture and a form of ears, proportions of the body and short plush
"standing" fur are very close to the contemporary conception
of the breed and completely coincide with phenotype of aboriginal
Russian blue cat, that you can see, f.i., in Arkhangelsk.     

The first name of this cat -Arkhangelsk blue- had been kept till 1912. At the beginning of
the XX century Arkhangelsk cats appeared in the USA. The division of English blue cats into
two categories - more heavy blue British type and lightened foreign blue type - became the important event in history of the breed. The new name of a cat:" Foreign blue" - was registered in 1912. The tradition of this name is still alive in some standards of Russian blue, where the type of build is described by the word "foreign". The number of admirers of the breed was increasing, and in the 30-s the Association of fanciers of Russian blue cats was founded, the standard was defined more exactly, green color of the eyes becoming a strict requirement. And the name Russian blue appeared at the first time in Great Britain only in 1939.      

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