Shropshire businessman's Fabergé collection up for auction - with guide price of more than £250k

An “exceptional” collection of Fabergé works of art assembled by a successful late Shropshire businessman will be up for auction with a guide price of more than £250,000.

The dozen, finely crafted Fabergé decorative pieces, which have values ranging from £80,000 to £3,000, will star in the pre-Christmas silver, jewellery, watches and bijouterie auction at Halls The Auction House in Shrewsbury on December 2.

The late collector, who died last year, had international business interests and purchased the pieces from Wartski, specialists in works of art by Carl Fabergé.

One of the pieces, a Russian Imperial hardstone kovsh set with rose diamonds, was originally purchased by Tsar Alexander III and is valued at between £40,000 and £60,000.

The Fabergé work of art carrying the highest estimate - £60,000 to £80,000 – is a gold mounted and enamelled, circular table clock which stands on a scrolled silver gilt strut.

Crafted by workmaster Henrik Wigström (1896-1903), the clock was purchased from Fabergé’s London branch in 1908 by Stanislaw Poklewski-Koziell, first secretary of the Russian Embassy in London and a friend of King Edward VII.

Valued at between £40,000 and £60,000 is a jewelled and enamelled, columnar photograph frame while a gold mounted lapis lazuli bowl by Carl Fabergé is expected sell for up to £30,000.

Another fascinating piece is a carved hardstone model of an American pit-bull terrier, ‘Tige’ with eyes made from gold-mounted cabochon rubies, which carries an estimate of £30,000 to £40,000.

Tige belonged to Buster Brown, hero of Richard Outcault’s eponymous cartoon strip in the New York Herald.

Fabergé carved a number of Tige models using different hardstones.

A rhodonite rectangular box purchased by British banker Leopold de Rothchild in 1911 has an estimate of £12,000 to £18,000 while an enamelled, gold mounted Siberian nephrite pen-tray is expected to sell for up to £12,000.

A gold mounted nephrite tray or dish by Carl Fabergé, the oval tray cut from a single piece of Siberian jade, is valued at up to £9,000.

Fabergé used six different types of nephrite, each exhibiting a different shade or texture, taken from boulders found in majestic scenery beside the river Onot in Siberia.

The collection also includes a jewelled and enamelled gold mounted nephrite vide poche (£5,000 to £7,000), a jewelled coloured gold case (£5,000 to £7,000), a gold mounted hardstone dish carved from translucent, figured agate (£3,000 to £5,000) and a Siberian nephrite circular bowl (£2,000 to £3,000).

Maryanne Lineker-Mobberley, Halls’ silver, jewellery and bijouterie specialist and associate director, has valued the collection, at between £230,000 and £330,000.

She said the Fabergé pieces were purchased over a period of 15 years from Wartski in London.

In addition to the collection, the auction house is selling paintings, silver, ceramics and objet d’art on behalf of the late collector’s two beneficiaries.

“It’s very rare indeed to have such an exceptional collection of period Fabergé from the late 19th and early 20th centuries available at auction,” added Maryanne. “I first became aware of this collection last year and I am delighted that the beneficiary, who does not live in the UK, has chosen to sell it with Halls.”