BY FABERGÉ WITH THE WORKMASTER INITIALS OF ALBERT HOLMSTRÖM, ST. PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1913, WITH SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 73647

Both the discovery of the stock books, with drawings illustrating the items produced in the workshop of Albert Holmström between 1909 and 1915, and the sale of the Winter Egg (Christie's, New York, 19 April 2002, lot 150) have provided further insight into the inspiration and realization of the snowflake design. In his article 'Two Books of Revelations', Apollo, (September 1987), p. 155, A. Kenneth Snowman quotes from a letter of 30 December, 1986 from Mrs. Ulla Tillander in Helsinki: 'The text of the sketch books seems to be in Alma's handwriting... In 1911 she got a chance to do designs of her own. Alma remembered very vividly the day there was an order from the Nobel Office, very urgently to make up forty small pieces, in a new design.... As ice crystals were very frequent in the draughty window glasses in those days, she suddenly got her inspiration from those. This is how the Nobel snowflakes came about. The year was 1911 or 1912.'