Fabergé Auction Highlights

Christie's (New York) Russian sale on April 18, 2007, included a rare carved carnelian figure of a gnome mounted as a scent flask. It realized $1,384,000 - one million over the pre-sale high estimate.

Courtesy Christie’s London

Christie's (London) sale on June 13, 2007, included the "Josephine Tiara". Featured in the June issue of this Newsletter it sold for $2,072,303 (estimate of $797,000 - $1,196 million).

General News

Fabergé Brand Has New Owner A consortium led by London-based Pallinghurst Resources acquired the worldwide Fabergé brand from Unilever, ... one of the world's largest consumer products companies. The brand, and all associated trademarks, licenses, and intellectual property, are now held by a new company formed by Pallinghurst, called Fabergé Limited ... (the) plan is using the Fabergé name to "create the world's leading supplier of branded, ethically-sourced gemstones." (Courtesy: jckonline.com)

A reader has spotted a Fabergé brooch worn by Elton John in the book by Miller, Fabulous: A Photographic Diary of Studio 54, 1998. It is also shown as lot 139 from the Kazan sale Christie's New York, April 15, 1997. (Courtesy: Roy Tomlin)

Brooch Christie's New York

Buckingham Palace and Clarence House will open their doors for the summer season to visitors of royal residences and to view a dazzling exhibition from The Royal Collection. On November 20, 2007, Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, will celebrate their Diamond Wedding Anniversary. An exhibition catalog, Five Gold Rings: A Royal Wedding Souvenir Album from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II has been published. (Courtesy John Jenkins)

Research Tools

Gilbert's Royal Books is offering The Royal House of Europe, a series of 13 books by Jacques Arnold. They are the most complete family trees of many of the royal houses of Europe currently in print and will be shipped from England. For inquiries about special discounts and further details, contact Paul Gilbert.

The Princes’ Yusupov Book Fund is located in Moscow and St. Petersburg archives. More than 80 thousand objects connected with this famous family is kept in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (Moscow). In St. Petersburg, such documents can be found in the Central Historical Archive, in the Russian National Library and in the “Pushkin House”. (Courtesy of Antiq.Info, a bi-lingual antiquarian magazine published in St. Petersburg, Russia; full-text available online)

Translation Help

Google Translate offers a translation capability for a select number of languages. Currently, available are the following translation pairs – English to and from Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese; and German to and from French. Specifics on how to use the translation tools are illustrated on the Fabergé Egg Site hosted by Annemiek Wintraecken.

Through the efforts of native Spanish speaker Gustavo the eggs given to Marie Fedorovna are being translated into Spanish. Future plans include similar translations into French, German and Italian by knowledgeable native speakers. For assistance and suggestions, contact the webmaster.

Readers of this newsletter are invited to share information about Fabergé happenings worldwide.