ANNA PAVLOVA, Faberge, Silver

Faberge House is a jewelry company founded in 1842 in the Russian Empire, which became famous for making famous Faberge eggs for the Russian royal family. Since 2007, the Faberge brand has been owned by Fabergé Ltd. The history of the Faberge family traces its origins to France of the XVII century, under the surname Favry. The Favries lived in the Picardy region, in northern France. Because of religious persecution, they left France in 1685.Documents from the Faberge family archive state that the surname was changed first to Fabri, then to Fabriere and, eventually, in 1825 to Faberge. In the second half of the XVIII century, Jean Favry worked as a tobacco planter. In 1800, the artisan Pierre Favry settled in the city of Pernau (Pärnu) Livonia (Estonia).Gustav Faberge was born in 1814. In the 1830s, he came to St. Petersburg to study jewelry with Andreas Ferdinand Spiegel, who specialized in the manufacture of gold caskets. In 1841, he received the title of master of jewelry. In 1842 Gustav Faberge opened his first jewelry store on Bolshaya Morskaya Street. The new store immediately became successful for two reasons: firstly, it was located in the fashionable center of St. Petersburg, and secondly, Russia was experiencing gallomania at that time.In 1846, Gustav Faberge and Charlotte Jungstedt had a son, Peter Carl Faberge, better known as Carl Faberge.Carl Faberge received his primary education at St. Anne's Gymnasium. It was a well-known gymnasium for children of the lower strata of the nobility. In 1860, Gustav Faberge left his business in the hands of managers and went with his family to Dresden, where the young Karl continued his studies at the Handelschule. At the age of 18, he went on tour and saw many famous jewelers in France, Germany, England, visited galleries and the best museums in Europe.In 1872, Karl returned to St. Petersburg at the age of 26. For 10 years, the manager of the Faberge company was his mentor and teacher, but in 1882 he died and Karl took over the management of the company. In the same year, two important events took place: he was awarded the title of master of jewelry, Agafon Faberge, the youngest of his sons, joined the family business. While Karl was engaged in the restoration of the Hermitage exhibits, Faberge company was invited to one of the main Russian exhibitions in Moscow. One of the exhibits that were presented at the exhibition by the company was a bracelet of the IV century BC. To which Alexander III said that he could not distinguish a copy from the original and Faberge's work should be in the Hermitage as an example of the skill of Russian jewelers. In 1885, the company became the official manufacturer of jewelry for the imperial house. Faberge was also the official supplier of the kings of Sweden and Norway, as well as Siam.Faberge products were presented at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. She made an indelible impression on European jewelers. However, the company was left without awards, since Faberge himself was a member of the jury and could not evaluate his products.In 1903, a store was opened in London. More than 10 thousand products of the company were sold through the English branch alone. In 1918, the Faberge company was nationalized by the Bolsheviks. In early October, Carl Faberge left St. Petersburg and went to Riga. However, in the middle of the month, the revolution overtook Latvia, Karl was forced to return to Germany again. Meanwhile, the Bolsheviks arrested his sons: Agafon and Alexander, but Madame Faberge and her younger son Eugene managed to escape to Finland.In Germany, Carl Faberge became seriously ill. In June 1920, Eugene took him to Switzerland, where other family members were already there. On September 24, Karl died in Lausanne. After almost 5 years, his wife also died. At the same time, Alexander managed to leave the USSR, but Agafon remained in the country until 1927. After the revolution, the Faberge family lost touch. Eugene and Alexander settled in Paris and founded Fabergé & Cie. After the end of World War II, they learned that Sam Rabin founded Fabergé Inc in the USA in 1937 and produces perfumes under the Faberge brand, and also registered the Fabergé trademark for the production of jewelry. Long lawsuits were unprofitable for the family, so an agreement was concluded under which the Fabergé trademark can only be used for the production of perfume. In 1964, Sam Rabin sold his company for $26 million. The company changed hands until Unilever bought it for 1.55 million in 1989. In the same year, Victor Mayer was hired as the chief jeweler. In 2007, South African businessman Brian Gilbertson (ex-president of SUAL Holding and BHP Billiton) acquired all rights to the Faberge brand from Unilever for $38 million. On November 27, 2007, one of the Faberge eggs was sold at Christie's auction for 9 million pounds, thus becoming the most expensive Russian jewelry.Today, the Rothschild Easter Egg can be seen in the permanent exhibition of the Faberge Museum in Baden-Baden, where besides it there are about 700 other historical exhibits of the Faberge company.Not only Faberge Easter eggs are presented at auctions. In 2005, several rare carved figures made of precious and semiprecious stones were sold at the Sotheby's auction in New York. Their price varied within $850 000 — 1 800 000 .In 2011, the company resumed work. An original collection of 12 pendants symbolizing the months of the year has been prepared