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JEWELRY NEWS Russian Industrialist Buys Forbes Faberge Collection
Last month, Sotheby's announced that the collection was scheduled for auction on April 20 and 21. The auction house said the most valued item, the Coronation Egg, could go for as much as $24 million, and the entire collection could fetch up to $90 million.
Malcolm S. Forbes, the former publisher and editor of Forbes magazine, began collecting the items in the 1960s and continued until his death in 1990. After His death, the collection continued on display in the Forbes Galleries and in shows worldwide.
Current whereabouts of the fifty Fabergé Imperial eggs Vekselberg's Foundation, Russia (Formerly Forbes Magazine Collection, New York)
Virginia Museum of Arts - Richmond, Bequest of Lillian Thomas Pratt
The Royal Collection, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II The Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, Switzerland The Marjorie Merriweather Post Collection - at Hillwood Museum, Washington, DC
The India Early Minshall Collection - Cleveland Museum of Art Prince Rainier III of Monaco Collection Private Collections
Some source material reprinted with permission from IDEX Magazine (http://www.idexonline.com/). |
The Forbes Collection of Fabergé has been sold to Russian industrialist Victor Vekselberg, who said he intends to return the collection to Russia, Sotheby's announced Wednesday. Before returning to Russia, highlights from the collection, including the fabled nine Imperial Easter Eggs, will go on public exhibition at Sotheby's in New York, at a date to be announced shortly.
The auction house did not release terms of the sale, which were negotiated by Sotheby's on behalf of the Forbes family.
The House of Fabergé created only 50 Imperial Easter Eggs total, and the collection acquired by Vekselberg includes nine of them. Among the nine are the very first Imperial Egg, the Hen Egg, which was commissioned by Tsar Alexander III for his wife Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, and the last Easter Egg he commissioned, the Renaissance Egg. It also includes the Rosebud Egg, the first egg the new Tsar, Nicholas II, commissioned for his wife Tsarina Alexandra. And the collection includes one of the most spectacular objects ever made by Fabergé—the Coronation Egg, which Nicholas II commissioned to present to the Tsarina on Easter in 1897 to commemorate his coronation in Moscow. Also among the Imperial Easter Eggs in this collection is the Fifteenth Anniversary Egg, commissioned on the occasion of the fifteenth anniversary of the coronation of Nicholas II. The four other Imperial Easter Eggs in this historic collection are The Lilies of the Valley Egg, the Cuckoo Egg, the Orange Tree Egg and the Order of St. George Egg.
"This is an unanticipated and exceptional outcome," said Bill Ruprecht, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sotheby's Holdings, Inc. "We were very excited at the prospect of an extraordinary auction and magnificent pre-sale exhibition, but we knew that this remarkable offer and the return of the Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs to Russia had to be taken very seriously. The Imperial Fabergé Easter Eggs as well as other objects from the Forbes Collection are among the most beautiful works of art ever created and we want to express our special thanks to Mr. Vekselberg for his agreement to have an exhibition of highlights from this historic collection at Sotheby's in New York, so that the public may have a final opportunity to view them prior to their return to Russia."
Mr. Vekselberg, who acquired the Collection, said: "The Fabergé Egg Collection, purchased from the Forbes family by the foundation I have established, represents perhaps the most significant example of our cultural heritage outside Russia. The religious, spiritual and emotional content captured by these Fabergé eggs touches upon the soul of the Russian people. Upon learning that the Forbes Collection was going to be auctioned, I knew immediately that this was a once in a lifetime chance to give back to my country one of its most revered treasures. I am honored to have this privilege and to make this important collection available to the Russian public."
"The Forbes family in the same statement said it is "delighted that the advent of a new era in Russia has made possible the return of these extraordinary objects. It is an astonishingly romantic ending to one of the great stories in art history."
Kremlin Armoury Museum, Moscow
The Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation - New Orleans Museum of Art
The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore
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