NO MAKER'S MARK, ST. PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1890, SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 1029 OR 1099

The present brooch shares similarities with a series of fifteen brooches shaped as Imperial crowns, which were made in the Fabergé workshop of August Holmström and presented at the coronation of Nicholas II in 1896 (U. Tillander-Godenhielm, The Russian Imperial Award System 1894-1917, Helsinki, 2005, pp. 328-329). In April 1896, Fabergé supplied the brooches (numbered 1015 to 1029) to the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty. Only one of these brooches was set with two rubies like the present brooch. However, the number of that brooch (1021) does not correspond to the present brooch, and the exact design of the present brooch cannot be traced to Holmström's stock books.

We are thankful to Valentin Skurlov for researching the present lot.