"Faberge Eggs" - a household name. This symbol of luxury, once sold by the Bolsheviks for next to nothing, today costs fabulous money. Private collectors spread millions for the right to own the famous treasures.
Origin
We can say that Carl Faberge is a hereditary jeweler. His father opened his own company in St. Petersburg in 1842. The family came to Russia from Estonia, and the ancestors of the famous jeweler were the French Huguenots who fled to Germany from the unfriendly policy of the Sun King (Louis XIV). Faberge’s father’s workshop did nothing outstanding: brooches and tiaras generously studded with precious stones were in constant demand among representatives of the wealthy merchants, but nothing more.
Gustav struggled to learn and provide for his first child, so Karl Faberge studied at the most prestigious educational institutions in Europe, studied jewelry art in Frankfurt, and then returned to Russia and at the age of 24 headed a family business. Some researchers claim that he was extremely gifted in jewelry, while others are convinced that the outstanding talent of Karl Gustavovich was purely administrative. But then the manager, as they would say now, he was from God.
Takeoff
When an art-industrial exhibition took place in Moscow in 1882, Faberge was lucky: the products of the enterprise attracted the attention of Alexander III and his wife. From that moment, the fruitful cooperation of the jeweler with the family of the monarch began. I must say that the emperor gave away expensive jewelry not only in kilograms - tons. It was necessary to present gifts during official visits to the rulers of other countries, and here skillfully made services, caskets, jewelry and various trinkets with the brand of Faberge were suitable.
Soon the company received international recognition, winning the exhibition in Nuremberg (1885). The judges chose products that imitate the gold jewelry of the Scythians. In the same year, the first Faberge egg was made for the Romanov dynasty.
Emperor's family
The Empress favored the jeweler since 1884: she was presented with a souvenir depicting a golden basket with pearl lilies of the valley. Maria Fyodorovna found the little thing lovely, and we can say that thanks to this, Carl Faberge opened a new direction in the activities of the enterprise. Since then, a variety of fantasies embodied in stone, gold or bone, have become his signature feature.
I must say that the famous jeweler most of all appreciated precisely the artistic side of the issue, and not all of his products were precious. At his enterprises, a variety of useful trifles were made, such as pens for umbrellas, bells or stone seals. According to some sources, the company even made
copper utensils, and even Faberge silver services were really famous throughout Russia (and not only).
Art side
The jeweler introduced the fashion to use not only precious stones and metals, but also simpler materials: crystal, bone, malachite, jasper, etc. At first, the company staff did not have enough qualified personnel to carry out all the ideas that Carl Faberge was full of. Work had to be ordered by the Ural masters. But gradually, many talented jewelers, engravers and artists became full-time employees of the enterprise. Among them were masters of the highest class, Faberge allowed them to put their own brand on their works.
The employees had a slave day: they had to work from seven in the morning until eleven in the evening, and on Sundays - until one in the afternoon. Surprisingly, Karl Faberge used the arrangement of subordinates: they did not leave him, they did not organize competing firms, although many had this opportunity. I must say that the famous jeweler paid generously, he didn’t throw old and sick workers to his mercy, he did not skimp on the praise.
The company had its own recognizable style. Another feature was a variety of enamels that delight the eye with more than 120 shades, and the technique of the so-called guilloche enamel has not been reproduced.
Imperial Collection Eggs
Karl Faberge received the widest fame and posthumous fame thanks to the Easter eggs that his company made every year for the imperial family. The tradition began with chance. The king asked the jeweler to make a surprise gift for Her Majesty Maria Fedorovna. Faberge was given freedom of choice - so the first egg of the imperial collection appeared.
The first sample was a golden egg, coated on the outside with white enamel. Inside it was a yolk and a colored chicken. She, in turn, was also a secret: inside the bird was a tiny imperial crown and a ruby egg, which was subsequently lost.
The idea was not original: such souvenirs are still kept among the exhibits of several European museums (Karl Faberge may have found inspiration there).
The Empress was delighted with the gift. From that moment on, Faberge had to present a new masterpiece to the court every year, but with two conditions. Firstly, an egg with a secret could be made only for the royal family. Secondly, it was supposed to be absolutely original.
When Nicholas II ascended the throne, the tradition continued, but now Faberge created two souvenirs: for the wife of the monarch and for the dowager empress.
Bypassing the royal ban
Many years later it became known that the jeweler nevertheless circumvented the ban of his august patron: seven eggs, very similar to the originals from the royal treasury, turned out to be the property of the wife of a gold miner. What was to blame - the fabulous wealth of Mrs. Kelch or her lovely eyes - is not known for certain. In addition to them there are at least eight Faberge eggs made by private orders. The fact that this fact is not documented is a good cover for scammers.
The house of Carl Faberge spent almost a year on the manufacture of each masterpiece. The most talented artists were involved in creating the sketches, and the look of the future gift was kept in the strictest confidence.
In the process of making a royal surprise, Faberge did not pursue profit: in different years, Easter eggs cost the emperor a different amount and were made from different, sometimes completely inexpensive materials. So, in 1916, the monarch received a steel egg, for which four cartridges served as a stand.
The owners of the preserved treasures
They say about 50, 52 and even 56 copies, which Faberge made for the imperial family, but some of them were lost. The Bolsheviks, having come to power, not only robbed the imperial treasury, but also sold it for nothing. Now only 46 of them are known.
In 2013, a truly royal gift to the residents of St. Petersburg was made by Russian oligarch Maxim Vekselberg. He bought the largest collection of eggs in the world from the Forbes family and opened the Faberge Museum, where 9 out of 15 copies can be seen by anyone. Another 10 masterpieces are among the exhibits of the Armory, 13 are in museums of the United States of America, 2 in Switzerland and 13 more are scattered in private collections (several belong to the Queen of Great Britain).
Another Faberge museum was opened in Baden-Baden, where eggs of 1917 production are shown there: from
Karelian birch (intended for the Dowager Empress) and glass-crystal (for Alexandra Fedorovna). The authenticity of the latter raises some doubts, since the same was found in the storerooms of the Mineralogical Museum in Moscow, but the masterpiece, another Russian billionaire Alexander Ivanov, claims that he is the owner of the original.