“I remember being really poor until I got my first $250,000 check from Faberge. That was pretty nice; I put it in the bank, and from that moment on, there seemed to be a lot of champagne and limousines in my life.”
triangular, gold centred by a white enamel dial, with Arabic chapters and openwork gold hands held beneath glass in a half pearl set bezel, its corners enamelled translucent fuchsia over a sunburst guillochage and painted beneath the enamel with dendritic motifs, the edge enamelled with alternating leaves and berries, stoodon two ball feet and supported on a scrolled gold strut.
Chief Workmaster: Michael Evamplevitch Perchin, St Petersburg,
10. 4cm
Provenance:
Purchased by Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna on 4th December 1901 for 215 roubles.
Exhibited by The Tsarina in the exhibition of Artistic Objects and Miniatures by Fabergé held in March 1902 in the Von Dervise Mansion on the English Embankment, St. Petersburg. The exhibition was sponsored by the Tsarina and held in aid of the Imperial Women’s Patriotic Society Schools. Members of the Imperial Family, including the Tsar, Tsarina and Dowager Tsarina lent their personal treasures and it was the first exhibition of Fabergé ’s work. The clock was placed by the Tsarina in its vitrine between a pair of Fabergé frames containing portraits of her husband and her daughter Grand Duchess Olga, now in the collection of the India Early Minshall Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art and in front of a gold mounted Fabergé book given by the Tsar to the Tsarina on the day of their coronation in May 1896, now in the collection of the Kremlin, Moscow.
Sapphire and Diamond necklace by Carl Faberge’ formed from thirteen graduating clusters of oval, brilliant cut, blue sapphires encircled by rose cut diamonds, joined by rose and brilliant diamond set bows suspending diamond set floral swags supported on openwork galleries set in silver, mounted on gold.
By Faberge’s chief jeweler, Albert Holmstrom, St Petersburg, circa 1908.
This necklace is an incredibly rare work of art by Carl Fabergé. We know that items of jewellery were amongst the most expensive objects you could purchase from Fabergé (the most expensive purchase made in Fabergé’s London shop was a tiara). A jewel on the scale of this necklace would have been a very substantial purchase, and few people would have been able to afford it.
It is remarkable that the necklace has survived, as most necklaces were destroyed after the revolution in 1917, when they were broken up by the Soviets, to extract precious and valuable stones. As a result, most surviving necklaces come from European families, because they were either bought outside of Russia, or taken out of the country once they had been purchased.
Grand Duke Georgiy Mikhailovich gave this Faberge frame to his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna (née Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark) on the occasion of their tenth wedding anniversary. It features portrait miniatures of the Grand Duke and of the couple’s two daughters, Princesses Nina and Xenia.
A late nineteenth century agate hardstone minature rabbit with cabochon sapphire eyes, sitting in an upright position with finely carved fur, suspended on a yellow gold ring bearing the marks for Fabergé, measuring 2cm x 1.5cm, St Petersburg, gross weight 3 grams.
According to Hindu mythology, moonstone is made of solidified moonbeams. Many legends say that moonstone brings good luck and some even believe that the stone allows you to that see the future if you hold a moonstone in your mouth during a full moon. An Edwardian era diamond-set gold and moonstone brooch by Fabergé workmaster Alfred Thielemann, St Petersburg, ca. 1899-1903. Available from John Atzbach Antiques.
ROYAL JEWELS - Empress Josephine’s Diamond Tiara, created by Fabergé c. 1890. The stunning briolette diamonds were a gift from Tsar Alexander I given to the Empress Josephine after she was divorced from Napoleon Bonaparte. This piece is one of only a few tiaras ever made by Fabergé.
