fake/spurious "Faberge" and "Imperial" items

[Alixz]

Post Revolution The House of Fabergé was nationalised by the Bolsheviks in 1918. The Fabergé all left the country, though Carl's son Agathon was not able to make his escape until 1927. Carl Fabergé died in Lausaane on September 24th 1920. He never recovered from the shock of the tragedy that had befallen his beloved country, its Imperial Family and of course the House of Fabergé. In exile, the words always on his lips were, ‘This life is not worth living’.

The Fabergé Family did not unite following the Revolution, but scattered. Carl's sons Eugène and Alexander settled in Paris and in 1924 established Fabergé & Cie, which traded in and restored objects made by the House of Fabergé as well as general jewellery. After World War II, they learnt that during 1937 in the United States, Sam Rubin had established Fabergé Inc and was manufacturing perfume under the Fabergé. It later transpired that he had also registered the Fabergé trademark for jewellery. Unable to afford protracted and expensive litigation, they settled out of court for US$25,000 in 1951 for the Fabergé name to be used in connection with perfume.

In 1964, Rubin sold Fabergé Inc. for $26 million to George Barrie and the cosmetics company Rayette.

In 1964, Rayette changed its name to Rayette-Fabergé Inc., and, in 1971, the company name was changed to Fabergé Inc.

In 1984, the McGregor Corp., a men's and boys' clothing maker, bought Fabergé. They changed their name temporarily to McGregor Fabergé. The Riklis Family Corporation, headed by Meshulam Riklis, bought a majority of the shares of McGregor.

In 1989, Unilever bought Fabergé from the Riklis Family Corporation. At the same time, Fabergé bought Elizabeth Arden from Eli Lilly for $725 million, turning Fabergé into a $1.2 billion firm. The company was renamed Elida Fabergé. The deal now placed Unilever at equal first place with L'Oreal in the world cosmetics league, up from fourth place. Unilever soon discovered that it could use Fabergé trademarks to use the Fabergé name in connection with jewellery. The company registered the Fabergé name as a trademark across a wide range of merchandise internationally and granted licenses to third parties to make and sell a range of products under the Fabergé name.

from Wikipedia

[Alixz]

Limited licences to endorse products with the name Fabergé were given to Barbie, Limoges, Franklin Mint and others.

Tatiana Fabergé and Theo Fabergé are among the surviving descendants of Gustav Fabergé. They both promote jewellery product lines, but neither of them owns the rights to the famous family name.
 
Theo Fabergé died on August 20 aged 84. He is survived by his daughter Sarah Fabergé.

from Wikipedia

[Katharine]

Okay, thanks for all of that

Btw, I did find out though that there is a Fabergé Boutique right here in Sydney, the only one in the world. I understand now that it's not exactly the same company, but with the same name, and they're striving to create the same - or as near to - quality.

I ask all these questions because I'm seriously considering buying one of the reproduced Imperial eggs, and obviously they're quite a bit of money. I don't want to be wasting it, but at the same time, it really seems to me that these are as good as it gets.

[Katharine]

Right, sorry about the double post but I've done some research and would like some more opinions, if I may.

Okay, first off I went to the Fabergé store in Sydney today - they are the only licensed Fabergé producers, with the workmaster being Victor Meyer. They don't re-create the Imperial eggs, nor does their work really have much to do with Romanov history. Their website can be seen here: http://www.faberge.de/.

When I asked them about the Imperial egg reproductions, they told me that perhaps they were created by Sarah Fabergé, Carl's great granddaughter. Researched her and no, her company - the St Petersburg Collection - does not re-create the Imperial eggs either.

So then I've been looking everywhere to find out who is making these reproductions, and passing them off to reputable stores as being genuine Fabergé. I've now come across this site: http://www.fabergetheperfectgift.com/index.shtml. They appear to be the ones recreating the Imperial eggs, and they do appear to be labelling themselves as Fabergé, not appearing to note where or by whom their products are made, and how exactly - if at all - they even have the rights to produce them at all.

But who are they?! And how is it that they can label their products as being Fabergé, with very official looking boxes that include the Romanov eagle and the correct spelling of the name, when they appear to have nothing to do with either the "official" company, or Theo and Sarah Fabergé's company.

I'm incredibly confused.

[Alixz]

Limited licences to endorse products with the name Fabergé were given to Barbie, Limoges, Franklin Mint and others.

Tatiana Fabergé and Theo Fabergé are among the surviving descendants of Gustav Fabergé. They both promote jewellery product lines, but neither of them owns the rights to the famous family name.
 
Theo Fabergé died on August 20 aged 84. He is survived by his daughter Sarah Fabergé.

from Wikipedia

Kathryn:  This is a quote from what I posted before.  Limited licenses were given to some businesses who went on to produce imitation eggs and I have seen the Franklin Mint ones.  They are fair copies.

Even the comedienne Joan Rivers has a line of imitation Faberge Eggs which she sells on the TV shopping channel QVC.

However, I just looked at that site that you linked us to and I can't believe the prices!!!!!   $6000!!!  I know that the originals are priceless and unless one were to find one in a flea marked in Shanghai as someone did many years ago, I know that I couldn't touch the price.

But the expert on this subject would be Bob or his partner Rob AKA Forum Administrator.  They not only have seen the real thing, I believe that they may own some Faberge.

Bob? Rob? Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Katharine]

Ah okay, thanks again Alixz, I must have glossed over that part in your original posts - my bad.

I emailed the person who runs that site and she says she's a Fabergé dealer who gets her products through Essex Marketing, who were given license by Fabergé some years ago to re-create some of the eggs.

[Alixz]

I am now wondering who Essex Marketing is and since the Faberge name was owned by Unilever until January 2007 (who used to be Lever Brothers) where Essex Marketing got the authority to use the name and to give license to anyone else?

It is good that Armand Hammer recognized the value and worth of Faberge after the war, but it is unfortunate that he sold them more to make money for himself that for the preservation of masterpieces.  And it is very unfortunate that the survivors of Faberge do not even own the right to their family's names because of Hammer and Sam Rubin.

Actually the first I ever saw of Faberge products in the US was in the 1960s when Faberge perfume was very popular.  Quite a come down from Imperial masterpieces to Joe Namath football quarterback advertising Brut for men.

[Katharine]

haha I'm still wondering who Essex Marketing is too. I did a google search with their name + Fabergé and didn't come up with anything ... And I still don't know - for whatever reason the webmaster (who turns out to be 85 o_o) keeps ignoring the question when I put it to her - who actually produces the replicas. Someone that Essex Marketing employs? If so, who? And she claims they are made in Russia, France and the US - yet at the store I saw them, I was told they're produced in the East. And they're surely not hand-made, so are they mass produced in a factory line? I can't understand why I'm not getting any straight answers.

And I still REALLY don't understand why Fabergé would have allowed a third party to re-produce their most famous and most beautiful works of art, and to still sell them under the Fabergé name.

*EDIT*

I have found one article that mentions Essex + Fabergé. You can read the whole article - quite interesting, about Tatiana Fabergé - here: http://www.smh.com.au/news/Arts/Not-the-last-of-the-Faberg-but-the-most-dedicated/2005/02/14/1108229927458.html. The part of particular interest with regards to what we're discussing:

Meanwhile there are stories galore to tell on American cruise ships, which she does courtesy of Michael Ruddy, whose Essex Company is licensed to use the Fabergé name ("It's been sold and resold and now is in the hands of Unilever").

She stops off at shop openings for Ruddy's reproduction Fabergé porcelain plates decorated with Imperial easter eggs and signs the backs.

I thought Tatiana Fabergé only gave her name and support to the company bought from Unilever by Fabergé Limited, ie the "official" Fabergé ... the fact that she knows a third party makes these reproductions under the name and seems all right with it - even to the point of signing them - must mean she's given them her stamp of approval then ...

[Forum Admin]

While Alixz is partially correct, we HAVE seen and handled a fair amount of the genuine Faberge pieces. we sadly do NOT own any genuine Faberge. I wish....its a personal goal, but with the prices of the genuine article so high, probably will be in the same catagory of my goal to see Hon Kong before it went back to China (I didn't make it...)

That said, the licenses for the Forbes items and Joan Rivers' pieces are NOT from the Faberge firm.  The particular copyrights to the pieces lapsed many years ago as to the Faberge firm, and all were produced before the laws of 1927.  The eggs' licenses come from the current OWNERS of the eggs in question, Forbes licensed reproduction of the pieces they owned while they owned them (they now belong to Vekselberg of course), and Joan Rivers copied pieces from her personal collection of Faberge.  In fact, the Forbes pieces were licensed to Vivian Alexander, whose name appears at the bottom the the forum pages.  The Vivian Alexander pieces are of excellent quality.

Katherine, Faberge is long dead as the man and the company.  There is no one to actually "object" anymore to third party reproduction of their pieces, except for those who currently own the specific pieces in question. 

Part of the reason why I created this thread and closely monitor it is because of the rampant outright fraudulent faking of Faberge, particularly the horrible persons in Bulgaria selling their crap on ebay, calling it "genuine" Faberge, from "Nicholas' desk in the Winter Palace" or "gift of Nicholas II to Kshennskaya"  or some rubbish. They even now give "certificates of authenticity' for this garbage, the "certificates" mean NOTHING...it still is not Faberge.

Katharine: the bottom line is this. If you like the piece, buy it. It won't ever go up in value, unless its real gold or solid sterling silver and the stones are genuine diamonds, sapphires or whatever. $6,000 is still enough money to buy something of GENUINE Faberge, albeit not a major egg or Imperial presentation piece.  I'd suggest if you HAVE $6,000 to spend, contact a reputable dealer of Faberge and see what you could afford to purchase as THAT will be the better investment of your money.  We can suggest A La Vielle Russie in New York, Dmitri Markov at RomanovRussia.com, John Atzbach at Atzbach.com  or Lev Uretski at RussiaAntique.com as dealers who carry the genuine article here in the US, Wartski in London,  and they will always offer a lifetime money back guarantee of genuineness of the Faberge pieces they sell.

[Katharine]

Thank you very much for all of your information With all the confusion I've been feeling in the past week, it's good to know I can come here and find intelligent people who will give intelligent and factual answers.

But no, I do not have a spare $6000 floating around, haha The item I was/am thinking about purchasing is the reproduction of the 1916 Steel Military Egg - which I now presume to have been made by Essex Marketing (and whoever they emply to actually make them) but with the go-ahead by the Fabergé Company (at least, when Unilever owned it) and it costs AU$1300. So absolutely nothing compared to how much an actual Fabergé item would cost.

As I said, I visited the Sydney Fabergé Boutique yesterday, and just for one of their original pieces you'll be looking at spending around AU$80,000.

When it comes down to it, the $1300 I might spend is basically going towards a poor man's "Fabergé" egg, albeit a very pretty and - to my eyes - very realistic looking copy. And it's sure as heck the closest I'll ever get to the real thing. But the good thing about buying a reproduction of the Steel Military Egg is that it was never originally made with the precious jewels of the other more glamourous eggs anyway. The copy is made with the same stainless steel as the original, though granted with gold plate rather than actual gold etc.

If I do purchase it, I will be sure to post pictures here for you all to see.

[Robert_Hall]

I Googled Essex Marketing and came up with their homesite. They are "importers" Their home page is Fabergeworld.com.
 I have seen some of these products, but cannot tell you where- retail shops, museum shops in any number of places I have seen Faberge displayed in one way or another.
In California, they are marketed at Bloomingdale's, which is a high-end department store.
As I recall, these are larger than the originals, and the workmanship is fine, not superior. Probably made in China by excellent craftsmen.
 For what they are, they are most likely worth the price as  lovely cabinet pieces, with a legend behind them, but NOT as investment.  They are no way related to the originals.  Much like buying an expensive Franklin Mint trinket.

[Katharine]

Ah, thanks very much for that, really appreciate it

[Alixz]

Katherine,

I am not sure what currency that this Faberge store in Sydney is using, but I figured it must be AUD.  So I did a quick currency conversion for myself and was astounded!

6,000.00 AUD = 5,325.27 USD
Australia Dollars    United States Dollars 
1 AUD = 0.887545 USD   1 USD = 1.12670 AUD



1,300.00 AUD = 1,153.72 USD
Australia Dollars    United States Dollars 
1 AUD = 0.887480 USD   1 USD = 1.12679 AUD

I have a hard time coming up with between $500 and $1200 for a Khodynka cup from a reputable antiques dealer!  I keep wanting one, but they are so small (about 3 1/2 inches) that I keep telling myself that it's just not worth it.  (I'm probably dumb for thinking that way, but....

Anyway, good luck with your purchase.  The pictures on their site do look very nice.  Glad to be of any help.

[aleksandr pavlovich]

Attention:  Katharine:   Since you have an especial interest in this particular egg, here's a personal observation and a bit of trivia for you:  I have  seen the "Military Egg," at close range and its austerity is rather "different" from the usual Faberge presentation in the Imperial Egg series.  My understanding and impression is that it was originally of a "gun-metal blue" (almost black) color, but over the years has been polished  to its present color tone.  Unfortunately I do not know the hue of the reproductions offered, but if you like it, that's all that matters!  Good luck and best wishes,  AP

[Katharine]

Yeah, I went and had another look at it today - was allowed to pick it up and have a really good look - and I wasn't as impressed seeing it up close. For starters there was a slight mark on it. And I was disappointed to see that Alexandra's monogram, and the 1916 date are not reproduced for the replica.

As much as I love the Imperial Eggs, as much as I'd love to own one - or at least a replica - I've just gotten to think, as the Forum Admin suggested, that I'd be better off spending the money on something real, and with actual history behind it. I've been looking a lot on the http://atzbach.com/ site - there really are some amazing items, and I think I'm better off buying from them, assuming they ship internationally at a reasonable price. I can be assured that this is a very reputable, genuine seller, right? Some of you have had personal experiences with him and the site?