faberge eggs

American football players get jeweled rings and shiny trophies but European football (a.k.a. soccer) players get Faberge eggs. Or at least some of them do. Two Faberge eggs created to honor two soccer players, Celtic legend Jimmy Johnstone and Manchester United's George Best are being auctioned off by McTears' Auctioneers in Glasgow, Scotland. The enameled eggs are decorated with silver and gold and open to reveal a small silver and gold figure of each of the players inside.

The eggs were created by Sarah Faberge, the great grandaughter of Russian Imperial Jeweler Carl Faberge and go up for sale on March 1. The egg shown at right is Best's egg which shows the European Cup medal and the football League Champion's badge. The sides of the Egg are decorated with the official crest used by Manchester United in 1968 and, from the same year, the Northern Ireland official crest. Inside the egg, a figure of Best stands with a sterling and black-gold diamond studded ball at his feet. It is estimated at £20,000 to £25,000.

Through his Link of Times Foundation, Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg has made it his personal mission to repatriate cultural and historical objects taken out from Russia in the 20th century. Toward that mission, Vekselberg has amassed a large collection of Faberge eggs made by Pyotr Karlovich Faberge and brought them back to Russia. Now he's sending them back out into the world. RIA Novosti reports that Vekselberg has worked with the Vatican to bring the Faberge eggs to the Holy See Museum for a new exhibition.

Before the Russian Revolution in 1917, Faberge's jewelry company in St. Petersburg manufactured some of the world's most beautiful jewels and objects for the Russia's imperial family. The most famous of his works are the intricate Easter eggs which have become some of the world's most collectible bejeweled items.

Vekselberg worked for over a year to arrange the exhibit which begins on April 14. There will be a total of 180 exhibit pieces which show the history of Russia and tsar's family. The House of Faberge created a total of 54 Imperial eggs for Alexander III and Nicholas II as gifts for their wives and family and 42 of these eggs remain today. Vekselberg purchased Faberge works from the Forbes family in 2004. Malcolm Forbes was a famous collector of Faberge eggs. That collection included nine Imperial Easter eggs and another 190 items, including brooches, inkwells and smoking accessories. Vekselberg said he paid over $90 million for the collection.

The numbers may not have big, but it felt like 2007 all over again during "Russian Week" in London. Russian billionaires descended on the art auction houses and fought fiercely for prized lots. Compared to last year, auction sales nearly doubled, with the Russians spending $86 million to repatriate icons, paintings, porcelain and Faberge items. This follows $18.5 million in Russian art sales by Sotheby's and Christie's in New York back in April.

The most popular pieces were early 20th century modernist works, with the top lot Alexander Yakovlev's "Titi and Naranghe, Daughters of Chief Eki Bondo." It was good for £2.5 million, almost tripling its high-end presale estimate of £900,000.

Sotheby's was the top auction house of London's Russian Week, generating £22.3 million by selling approximately 70 percent of its 615 lots. The result falls within the presale range of £19.3 million to £28 million.

On April 11, William J. Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers will hold an auction featuring an important Imperial Russian silver box, among other antiques and fine art.

The Russian silver and enamel covered box with a gilt interior has an enameled scene of an 1883 painting, "A Boyar Wedding Feast," by Konstantin Makovsky, signed I.P. Khlebnikov, and measures 1½ by 2½ by 35/8 inches.

Besides being a beautiful work of hand craftsmanship, the silver box is also interesting because of the circumstances surrounding its sale a year and a half ago. In fact, this is the second time William J. Jenack will be selling the silver box because the winning bidder the first time around refused to pay for his purchase.

Indeed, in September 2008, the box was sold at a William J. Jenack auction to a phone bidder for $400,000, which was the result of a heated competition that involved several members of the live audience and half a dozen phone bidders from around the country.

The box, which then had an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000, attracted a great deal of pre-sale attention. "Needless to say, no one anticipated the response that the box achieved," says William J. Jenack, auctioneer and owner of William J. Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers. "The comparables in the marketplace at that time, never reflected numbers that we were able to accomplish at that time."

Before the box even went up for auction, the auction house received countless calls from interested buyers around the country. "We had people submitting offers to purchase the box before the auction," says Jenack. "Some of the offers were so large---in the $70,000 to $90,000 range---that we realized our pre-sale estimate was way off the mark."

During the 2008 auction, Jenack noticed many people in the audience he did not recognize. The bidding opened at $40,000 and the bidding bounced around the audience until it reached $100,000 when phone bidders entered the competition. "The people in the audience gave up at $150,000 and the phone bidders carried the bidding to $400,000," recalls Jenack.

The silver box was sold for $400,000 (not including a buyers premium of 15% and any applicable taxes) to a phone bidder, who was a Long Island, N.Y.-based dealer who specializes in Imperial Russian works of art.

"The buyer later contacted us to see how much the amount would come to," says Jenack. "We provided him with that information and sent him an invoice." Subsequently, the dealer defaulted on the purchase, and litigation ensued.

In early March, a New York Supreme Court Justice awarded damages against the defaulting purchaser of more than $497,398, representing the successful bid, taxes and buyer's premium. The decision is currently the subject of an appeal in New York State courts.

"Now we have to sell the box again," says Jenack. "Whatever it brings will be deducted from the total that the dealer owes us."

The box is important because it was made by Khlebnikov, who was a craftsman who worked for the House of Fabergé, the jewelry firm in Imperial Russia that designed elaborate jewelry, silver and the famous Easter eggs for the Russian Tsars. Khlebnikov is known to have created objects on his own, such as this piece, without the Fabergé seal of approval. The Khlebnikov box has a pre-sale estimate of $100,000 to $400,000.

The April 11th auction will also highlight Period American, French & Chinese furniture; Chinese & African works of art; American & Continental paintings & prints including signed works after Nikolai Egorovich Sverchkov, Milton Avery, Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, Bruno del Favero, Rolph Scarlett, Florence Kroeger, Charles Zacharie Landelle; animation art; fine & costume jewelry; small collection of stamps including Duck stamps; door stops; art pottery; Victorian porcelains; Vatican Papal Grand Cross Set of Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem; fossils including a fine ammonite (15 ½ x 18"-approx. 60 lbs) and decorative accessories.

Previews will be held at the William J. Jenack auction facility located at 62 Kings Highway Bypass, Chester NY 10918 on April 7th from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm; April 8th from 2:00 pm to 5:45 pm; April 9th and 10th from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm; and on the day of sale from 9:00 am to 10:45 am. For further information contact (845)469-9095 or email kevin@jenack.com. The catalogue for the sale will be available on-line Friday, April 2nd.

The auction, which will be held live in William J. Jenack gallery, will also be held simultaneously online at www.liveauctioneers.com. It will take place on Sunday, April 11 beginning at 11:00 am. The William J. Jenack website is www.jenack.com.

On Nov. 24, Sotheby's in London is offering an amazing array of objects by famed Russian jeweler Carl Fabergé in its impressive Imperial & Royal Presents sale. Fabergé is best known for his incredible jeweled eggs, though he produced many other iitems as presents for the Russian Tsars and their family.

It is these latter items, including picture frames, sniff boxes, vesta cases, paper knives, compacts and pill boxes, that are featured in the auction. The top-priced lot is a Fabergé silver-gilt pearl and enamel heart shaped photograph frame enclosing a miniature of Empress Maria Fedorovna, circa 1890, est. $90,000 - $120,000.

One of our favorite items is this Fabergé enamel and silver frame (above) with a photograph of George, Duke of York, later George V, a present from Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, est. $30,000 - $45,000.

This beautiful Faberge creation from Princess Grace of Monaco's collection, which has not left Monaco in over 30 years, was unveiled today at the Consulate General of Monaco in New York City.

Thanks to Prince Albert II, who inherited the piece in 2005, the Imperial Blue Serpent Clock Egg will be traveling to Cleveland, Ohio, where it will be on display with six other Faberge wonders in the Artistic Luxury exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art through January 2009.

The Imperial Blue Serpent Clock Egg was crafted in St. Petersburg in 1887, and presented by Alexander III to Maria Fyodorovna.

The iconic name of Faberge is most often associated with opulent eggs with hidden treasures inside. For almost a century no Faberge eggs have been produced but that will soon change. Sometime next year the first Faberge egg in quite some time will be launched, although who commissioned such a decadent piece is unknown at this time. Originally intended as gifts for Russian royalty these amazing bejeweled treasures are now scattered between museums and private collectors, even some lost to history. In the gallery below are nine Faberge eggs once owned by the Forbes family -- each is uniquely crafted with hidden delights inside. I wonder if the anticipated egg will keep with the past or have more of a modern twist?