Looking to appeal to the Francophile Russian aristocracy, he added an accent to the final e in his surname to make it sound more sophisticated and French. “The scarcity of the eggs has clearly driven their sales at auctions, as well as fuelled our interest through the decades,” Munn said.Įggs rarely appear at auction, and today most of them can be found in museums and public institutions, from Moscow to Cleveland. The largest collections are held by the Kremlin Armoury and the Faberge Museum in St. In Stradivari’s Genius, Toby Faber charted the fascinating course of some of the world’s most prized musical instruments. The story begins in 1842, when Baltic German jeweller Gustav Faberge opened his eponymous store in Saint Petersburg. Five years later, an enamel and gold egg with a diamond-studded cockerel went for a record £9 million (then worth $18.5 million) at the same auction house’s London location. In 2002, the “Winter Egg” sold to an an anonymous telephone bidder for $9.6 million at Christie’s in New York. Prices for Faberge eggs have risen through the decades, and now fetch huge sums at auction. His objects are all the more remarkable because of that: They tell so many different stories (and) are a lesson in micro-history.” “He was privy to Russia’s wealthiest circles, yet worked with mostly illiterate, humble people, often giving them free artistic rein. “Faberge ran his house on an early prototype of ‘industrial democracy,’ despite living under one of the world’s tightest autocracies,” the author said. Faberge also granted them the right to mark the wares with their own initials. His so-called “Faberge workmasters” were in charge of recruiting and personally training their own teams of artisans, and were allowed to set their own production schedules. To begin with, two of his chief designers were women – Alina Holmstrom and Alma Phil. Tillander-Godenhielm depicts Faberge as a businessman ahead of his time. Faberge today strives to work to emulate this care, quality and attention to detail. “The house’s head ‘workmasters’ created anything from cigarette cases to mantel clocks.” ![]() “Although it’s the eggs most people associate Faberge with, they only make half of the story,” Tillander-Godenhielm said. Faberge's workshop also produced other decorative items, such as this miniature sedan chair.
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