May 2008

Auctions

From the Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2008 ‘… After a Five-year Boom, Auction Houses Brace for a Potential Slowdown’.  Is this also true for the decorative arts and Fabergé?

Highlights from recent Fabergé auctions:

Sotheby’s New York, April 16, 2008
Fabergé Icon sold for $780,000, more than five times its estimate, and a Nautilus Shell Cup sold for $421,000 with buyer’s premium (Estimate $200,000-300,000).

Christie’s New York, April 18, 2008
Elephant sold for $601,100 (Estimate $300,000-500,000).

Heritage Auction Galleries, Dallas, Texas, April 24, 2008
Alexander III 25th Wedding Anniversary Desk Clock sold for $179,000 (Estimate $300,000- 500,000).

Spring Auction Calendar (Compiled with assistance from Willand Ringborg)

May 10, 2008  Auktionshaus Dr. Fischer Heilbronn, Germany

May 21 – 22, 2008  Bukowskis Finland

May 26, 2008  Dorotheum Vienna

June 11, 2008  Christie’s London, Jewels: The London Sale from the late Christina Onassis will include a rare bowenite Buddha by Fabergé. The auction house has redesigned its web page.

June 12, 2008  Sotheby’s London includes a carnet shaped as a book that is pinned shut with a pencil. Three other rare examples are in the Collection of H.M. the Queen of the Netherlands, Hillwood Museum in Washington, (DC), and a third one was given by Emperor Nicholas II to the actress Elizabeth Balleta in 1902. (Courtesy of Rosie Ines Ker and Yulia Kunze of Sotheby's)

Fabergé Carnet
Estimate: 150,000 - 200,00 GBP

Exhibitions and Museum News

May 15 - September 15, 2008  The Finnish Stone Center, Juuka, Finland
One Unfinished Egg & Fabergé: 79 Completed Jewelled Objects including the 1917 Blue Constellation Egg from the Fersman Mineralogical Museum in Moscow. This is the third time the unfinished egg has traveled, since it was discovered - Munich 2003 and Brussels 2005.

May 15, 2008  Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, Washington (DC)
Adopt-a-Book Night to benefit the Art Research Library, which contains Fabergé and Russian decorative arts book and auction catalog collections.

May 24, 2008  Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Grand opening of the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery displaying 3,500 jewels with a strong emphasis on 800 years of European jewelry making. The renovation project was made possible with a £7 million gift and took four years to complete. Fabergé enthusiasts will enjoy viewing nine objects and sixteen animals from the collection formed by Kenneth Snowman (1919-2002), Fabergé scholar, dealer, and a generous ally of the V&A for more than 50 years.

The Sallie and Kenneth Snowman Collection on Loan to the V&A Museum

Fairs

June 12-18, 2008 Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair, London
Fabergé Exhibitors: A La Vieille Russie of New York and Marks, S.J. Phillips and Wartski of London.