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The top selling lot of the Imperial Fabergé & Russian Works of Art auction, and both sales overall, was this imperial Fabergé diamond set and enameled gold-mounted bowenite egg-shaped frame from the personal collection of Empress Maria Feodorovna, 3 by 1¾ inches, 180 grams, in original Fabergé fitted presentation case, which sold for just over three times its high estimate. The rare egg-shaped frame was exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Fabergé in America” exhibition from 1996 to 1997. It sold for an impressive $750,000 ($120/220,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
DALLAS — Heritage Auctions’ May 16 Fine Silver & Objects of Vertu and May 17 Imperial Fabergé & Russian Works of Art auctions collectively realized over $7 million. The Fine Silver auction had a sell-through rate of 95 percent, realizing $1,512,558. “The auction did well overall…Bidding was animated. Many lots sold well above our expectations,” reported Karen Rigdon, vice president of fine silver at Heritage. The auction saw winning bids from United States, England and the Continent, as well as Canada, China, India and the Middle East. “The largest percentage of lots were purchased by private buyers,” added Rigdon.
The Imperial Fabergé auction set a new record for Fabergé sales, doubling its high estimate and realizing $5,690,769, with a sell-through rate of 98 percent. “This auction felt like the old days,” said Nick Nicholson, Heritage’s senior specialist of Russian works of art, “there was an excited audience of American bidders for the first time in a long time. I was very pleased with the results.”
The top lot of the Fine Silver & Objects of Vertu auction was this R&S Garrard & Co. silver wine cistern, London, 1903, 21 inches tall (trophy), 18½ inches tall (base), 710.54 troy ounces, inscription to brass label on wood pedestal “The Michigan Mile And 1/16 / Sept 21-1957 / Won By / My Night Out / Owner D.H.Wells Trainer R Grundy,” which crossed the block for $187,500.
Fine Silver & Objects of Vertu
The Fine Silver & Objects of Vertu Signature Auction offered 305 lots from five separate American collections, including that of Ruth S. Nelkin, “a voracious collector with an incredible level of connoisseurship across multi collecting areas, including art glass, Russian works of art and Japanese prints,” according to Rigdon.
An important R&S Garrard & Co. silver wine cistern was the top-selling lot, crossing the block at $187,500. The boat-form cistern featured a Bacchanale scene in high relief and had lion’s paw feet. Rigdon commented, “From its presentation at the Michigan Mile (horse race), the cistern stayed in D.H. Wells’ family from 1957 until it sold. The elaborate crest to either side of the cistern indicates its royal provenance and was likely given to mark a significant event. Considering the cistern’s magnificence and its maker’s significance, it is only a matter of time before the source of its commission and presentation is known.”
A three-piece Tiffany & Co. 18K gold tea service was the second-highest selling lot of the auction. The service came with a teapot, creamer and covered sugar, and was consigned from the Nelkin collection. Each piece had leaf-form finials and ogee-form covers, with arcaded rims over conical bodies, circled by ogee-form arches, with applied C-shaped handles. Each piece terminated with a stepped base with beaded rim. The service realized $100,000.
Rounding out the top three lots of the Fine Silver & Objects of Vertu auction was this Cartier agate, diamond, 18K yellow gold, guilloche enamel and vermeil calendar clock, Paris, circa 1910, 4¼ inches square, 326 grams, “Cartier, Paris, 393” to reverse, “M, 110599” to movement, which exchanged hands at $68,750.
Trading hands for $68,750 was a circa 1910 Cartier calendar clock, also consigned from the Nelkin collection. The polished agate clock featured a calendar band with 18K gold Arabic numerals against white enamel. Its bezel was set with rose-cut diamonds and gold roman numerals against a white enamel band. The platinum minute, hour and day indicators were also set with rose-cut diamonds. The dial was pink enamel over a guilloché ground, and the movement with 15 jewels featured a lever escapement. The clock was accompanied by a fitted case.
A Tiffany & Co. enameled silver carousel, featuring six different carousel animals, realized $62,500. It came from a private collector and was in overall good condition. “The circus was designed by Gene Moore for a 1990 Tiffany & Co. window display. At the request of patrons, the circus went into production,” explained Rigdon. “Its whimsy has propelled this series as a popular collecting niche to the present day.”
From the collection of Empress Maria Feodorovna, this imperial Fabergé diamond and champlevé enameled gold-mounted purprin elephant, pre-1899, workmaster Mikhail Perkhin, 1¼ inches tall, 34 grams, scratched inventory number “4913,” was pushed by bidders to $312,500 ($70/90,000).
Imperial Fabergé & Russian Works of Art
The record-breaking Imperial Fabergé & Russian Works of Art Signature Auction offered 179 lots from multiple important American collections and estates, including the Nelkin collection. “The majority of significant lots were purchased by US collectors,” explained Nicholson in a post-auction press release. “The sale shows that the market remains strong for superlative objects with important provenances.”
An Imperial Fabergé diamond-set and enameled gold-mounted bowenite egg-shaped frame, fresh to the market and descending from the personal collection of Empress Maria Feodorovna, was the top-selling lot of the auction. The piece was made before 1896 in the St Petersburg workshop of Mikhail Perkhin, and had no scratched inventory number, implying that it may have been a special commission for the empress. The egg-shaped frame “was a form that was explored relatively rarely by Fabergé,” explained Nicholson. “There are only four to five egg-shaped frames known to exist, and most are in museums. It’s a rare opportunity for these to be purchased.” On top of its imperial descent through the empress, it was in the collection of Thelma D. Zane, who brought it from Russia to America in 1949, where it had remained in private collections ever since. “This lot had the trifecta for a great price: it was fresh to market, has imperial provenance and wonderful museum exhibition history,” said Nicholson. It sold for more than three times its high estimate, for an impressive $750,000.
“This was an extraordinary find, from the Nelkin collection. It is a unique object, there are no other ones like it,” said Nicholson of an imperial champlevé enameled gold and gilt silver presentation lampada, designed in 1850 by Feodor Grigorievich Sol’ntsev for the Chudov Monastery, which was the second-highest selling lot of the auction at $475,000. The lampada was commissioned by the Tsesarevich Alexander Nikolaevich (later Emperor Alexander II) to commemorate the recovery of the Tsesarevna and her son, the Grand Duke. The ring and canopy take the form of the Imperial double-headed eagle, which was a symbol of the emperors of Byzantium later adopted by Russian tsars and emperors. Nicholson shared, “We found it still wrapped in newspaper with the sale date on it. We were very pleased to rediscover it, and very pleased to do an important academic study on the work. We identified the maker of the piece for the first time, which restored history to the object. That really helped send it skyward in price. I couldn’t be happier that it went for almost half a million.”
At $312,500, a rare Imperial Fabergé diamond and champlevé enameled gold-mounted purpurin elephant rounded out the top three best-selling lots of the sale. Also made in the workshop of Perkhin before 1899, this elephant was purchased by dowager empress Maria Feodorovna for 100 rubles (about $1) on December 21, 1901. “Fabergé made a number of similar elephants, but it’s quite rare to find them in purpurin, a man-made substance invented by the Russian Imperial Glassworks and refined by Fabergé,” reported Nicholson. “It’s a once in a lifetime chance for a collector.”
Crossing the block for $300,000 was an imperial Fabergé two-color gold and opalescent pink guilloche diamond-shaped clock, workmaster Mikhail Perkhin, St Petersburg, pre-1896, 5 inches square, 278 grams, scratched inventory number “49813,” in original Fabergé fitted presentation case. Originally from the private collection of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, the clock also had provenance to the Zane collection ($80/120,000).
From the collection of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, an Imperial Fabergé two-color guilloche enameled diamond-shaped clock in its original fitted presentation case crossed the block for $300,000, two and a half times its high estimate. “We knew from the beginning that this was going to be very exciting in auction,” explained Nicholson. “Clocks always fetch a very high price because they are unique. This one, in addition to having a wonderful shape, had a quite coveted enamel color: the opalescent pink, in pristine condition.” The clock was the epitome of Fabergé’s work in the Louis XVI revival style at the turn of the century. It was also confirmed to be in the grand duchess’s collection by at least 1900, when it appears in archival photographs of her boudoir.
Heritage will conduct a single-owner sale of Russian works in December, with more details to be announced. The next standalone auction for fine silver and objects of vertu will take place on November 17.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 214-528-3500 or www.ha.com.
