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Compiled and updated regularly by Christel Ludewig McCanless
Author, Fabergé and His Works: An Annotated Bibliography
of the First Century of His Art, 1994
Co-author, Fabergé Eggs: A Retrospective Encyclopedia, 2001

Newletter Archives

August 2007

Modern-Style and Original Fabergé

In a recent Google search the word Faberge yielded over 1,320,000 hits in 0.07 seconds. Alongside the Top 10 hits there was an opportunity to buy Fabergé eggs, coins, brooches, perfume, china, crystal, etc. At the end of the Top 10 List was one dealer of genuine or original Fabergé ojects d’art made before 1918 when the firm of Fabergé closed its doors forever in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The word Fabergé has come to mean something fancy, extravagant, or extra special in the popular culture of the last fifty years. The international conglomerate Unilever recently sold its cosmetics trademark Fabergé to Pallinghurst for undisclosed millions to market gemstones under that name. In view of this resurgence of the Fabergé name, the time is right to briefly outline how a new collector or buyer of Fabergé can distinguish between modern-style and original Fabergé objects.

Modern-style Fabergé

Only a sampling of the makers of modern-style Fabergé will be discussed in this issue.

Descendants of Peter Carl Fabergé who carry on the tradition:

  • Tatiana Fabergé - great granddaughter of Peter Carl Fabergé who lives in France and through her lectures and publications in several languages has kept the family name alive. For additional information, Wikipedia
  • Great grandson Theo Fabergé and his daughter Sarah Fabergé, a family business in London with a store in St. Petersburg, Russia, specializes in modern-style Fabergé, St. Petersburg Collection

Reproductions sold in gift shops are available in most museums that own original Fabergé. Illustrated below is an adaptation made in St. Petersburg, Russia, which was created for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Flowers in this series sell for several thousand dollars.

Hillwood Flowers
Courtesy Hillwood Museum

Eggs made in the style of Fabergé:

  • Germany: The firm of Victor Mayer in Pforzheim under a licensing agreement with Unilever in 1989 and now with Pallinghurst is also a family business. Dr. Géza von Habsburg writes about the firm in the book, Fabergé: Then and Now. (German edition - Fabergé: Gestern und Heute)

  • Russia: Andrei Ananov in St. Petersburg states on his web page “he is continuing not Faberge's distinctive elan, but the St. Petersburg style in art, which Faberge's traditions came to be a part of…”
  • United States: Vivian Alexander under a licensing agreement with The Forbes Magazine Collection produced a modern Duchess of Marlborough Egg, the Coronation Egg for the movie Ocean’s 12, and a modern Rosebud Egg for a European advertising campaign for Smirnoff vodka.

Original Fabergé

Details about dealers and auction houses handling original Fabergé objects are discussed on my website.

One of the most spectacular objects with a flower theme designed by the original House of Fabergé is the cyclamen tiara currently owned by the Duke and Duchess of Westminster.

Fabergé Tiara
Courtesy Westminster tiaras

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

 

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Christel Ludewig McCanless