Fabergé in London

Book excerpt: The first book to be dedicated to the British branch of Faberge, covering its fascinating history from its opening in 1903, to its closure in 1917. Royalty, Aristocrats, American heiresses, exiled Russian Grand Dukes, Randlords, Maharajas, Socialites and financiers with newly made fortunes flocked to Faberge in London to buy gifts for each other. This book is the first dedicated to the glittering history of Faberge's British branch, from its opening in 1903 to its closure in 1917. The Imperial Russian Goldsmith's London branch was the only one outside of Russia and its jewelled and enamelled contents were as popular there as they were in St. Petersburg or Moscow. Using previously unreferenced sources and a newly discovered archive of papers relating to Faberge in London, Kieran McCarthy studies the branch's structure, customers and exclusive stock. The most expensive sale made by Faberge in London, of a diamond tiara priced for £1400, cost one hundred times the annual wage of a scullery maid. It will be of interest to enthusiasts of the decorative arts, the social history of the Edwardian Golden Age and especially of European Royalty. Faberge's works were and continue to be intimately associated with the British Royal Family. For Violet Trefusis, daughter of King Edward VII's mistress Mrs. Keppel and lover of Vita Sackville-West, A Faberge cigarette case was the emblem of Royalty, as symbolical as the bookies cigar, or the ostler's straw. AUTHOR: Kieran McCarthy is a director of Wartski, the London Court Jewellers who specialises in the work of Carl Faberge. He is on the advisory board of the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg, is a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths' and a fellow of the Gemmological Association. He has written and lectured extensively about Carl Faberge. He advises collectors and institutions on Faberge's work and recently revealed the rediscovery of one of the lost Imperial Faberge Easter Eggs. 191 colour, 86 b/w