Two stamps of Grand Dukes

Two stamps in the form of busts of Napoleon III and Empresses Eugénie

Topaz.

Height 11.5 and 11 cm

Empress Eugénie (1826 - 1920) was the wife of Napoleon III Bonaparte (1808 - 1873) and mother of Napoleon IV (1856 - 1879) who ruled from 1853 until 1871. The engraving of the stamps says: «Vargunin» and «L.V.». Vargunin was a St. Petersburg industrialist of the last third of the 19th century. Both stamps were used for private correspondence and are made out of topaz and marble and gilded in bronze.

K. Fabergé, M. Perkhin's workshop

St. Petersburg. The end of the 19th century

Cigarette case George I.

Cigarette case

Gold, silver, gilding, diamonds, guilloche-enamel.

Length 8.9 cm

George I was born in 1845 in Copenhagen to Danish king Christian IX. As a young man he served in the Danish navy. In 1863 Wilhelm George was made King of Greece under the name George I. To commemorate this, Russian Emperor Alexander II awarded him the medal of  St Andrew. In 1867 George I married the niece of Alexander II - Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinova. Later on George's three children married members of the Russian Imperial House. No wonder that many works of Russian jewellers, including Fabergé's, could be found in the collection of George I.

C. Fabergé

Moscow. 1899 - 1908