Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Master goldsmith Gustav Fabergé, a descendant of Huguenot emigrées, founded the House of Fabergé in St. Petersburg in 1842. While the firm is best known for creating the lavishly ornate and intricately devised Imperial Easter eggs given by the last czars to their families as annual holiday gifts, it was the most prestigious Russian luxury goods maker of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fabergé did a brisk trade among the lesser nobility and the merchant class, but it flourished under the guidance of Gustav’s eldest son Peter Carl Fabergé — known also as Karl Gustavovich Fabergé — who took over in 1872.
Serving the aristocracy and the well-to-do through stores in St. Petersburg, Moscow and as far afield as London, Fabergé crafted a wide range of brooches and other jewelry, clock cases, silver and myriad objets de vertu that included picture frames, cigarette cases, cufflinks and carved hardstone floral and animal figurines. Following the revolution, the firm was closed by the Soviet state in 1918.
Cosmopolitan, widely-traveled and himself a master goldsmith — he was sent on a Grand Tour in the 1860s — the younger Fabergé drew early design inspiration when he volunteered to catalogue and restore pieces in the imperial jewelry collection in the Hermitage.
Fabergé pieces based on historical jewelry from the Hermitage caught the attention of Czar Alexander III at a Moscow exhibition in 1882, and three years later he commissioned the first Imperial Easter egg as a gift for the czarina. Czar Nicholas II continued the tradition, presenting two eggs each Easter — one for his wife and one for his mother.
Relatively simple in design compared to the complex cloisonné-adorned eggs that followed, the first Fabergé egg was a white-enameled ovoid containing a gold “yolk” that held a gold hen, which in turn contained a replica of the imperial crown from which hung an egg-shaped ruby pendant.
As the appointed goldsmith to the royal court, the House of Fabergé became the darling of Russian aristocrats as well as wealthy patrons across Europe. Many and varied objets — hundreds of thousands by one count — were made to meet their demand. The firm employed some 500 craftsmen and designers when it was shuttered.
After the Russian Revolution, the Fabergé name and trademark endured a checkered passage through the 20th century.
Family members left their homeland in 1918 and set up a new business in Paris that was mainly concerned with repairing and restoring earlier-made wares. The name was adopted by an American fragrance and beauty products maker in the late 1930s, and later authorized by the family in a 1951 agreement. The trademark has been subsequently sold several times, and attached to numerous products including jewelry.
Fabergé pieces are richly redolent of a romantic past, and a source of thorough delight — for connoisseurs, true Fabergé refers to items made in the firm’s brief, golden decades from 1885 to 1917.
Collectors are advised to make a study of Fabergé works in museum collections such as the Victoria & Albert and the Royal Collection in London to gain an understanding of the quality of genuine goods made by the original firm, and then to purchase only from reputable and reliable dealers, such those at 1stDibs.
Find Peter Carl Fabergé objects and vintage jewelry on 1stDibs.
1990s Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
19th Century Russian Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Silver
Late 19th Century Russian Russian Empire Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Diamond, Ruby, 14k Gold
Late 19th Century Russian Victorian Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Yellow Gold
1910s Vintage Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Gold, 14k Gold, Enamel
Early 1900s Russian Rococo Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Silver
Early 1900s Russian Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Vermeil, Silver
1860s Russian Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Niello, Silver
Late 19th Century Russian Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Diamond, Natural Pearl
2010s Brazilian Minimalist Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Glass
Early 1900s British Art Nouveau Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Diamond, White Diamond, Pearl, Natural Pearl, 18k Gold, Enamel
1770s Russian George III Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Sterling Silver
1890s Victorian Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Diamond, Sapphire, 15k Gold, Sterling Silver, Mixed Metal
1880s French Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Crystal, Rock Crystal, 18k Gold, Enamel
1850s Russian Russian Empire Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Silver
Early 20th Century Czech Art Nouveau Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Malachite
20th Century Dutch Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Gold Plate, Silver, Enamel, Gold, 14k Gold
Early 20th Century Russian Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Diamond, White Diamond, 18k Gold, Platinum
Late 19th Century French Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
18k Gold
Early 1900s Russian Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Diamond, Silver, Enamel
Russian Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Early 1900s Russian Art Nouveau Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Gold
Early 1900s Russian Neoclassical Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Silver
Early 1900s Russian Rococo Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Silver
Late 19th Century Russian Art Nouveau Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Sterling Silver
Early 20th Century Russian Edwardian Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Diamond, Ruby, Rose Gold, Yellow Gold
Late 19th Century Russian Victorian Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Jade, Ruby, Yellow Gold
Late 19th Century Victorian Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Late 19th Century Russian Art Nouveau Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Sterling Silver
Late 19th Century Victorian Antique Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Diamond, Ruby, 14k Gold
Peter Carl Fabergé Jewelry
Peter Carl Fabergé jewelry & watches for sale on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Peter Carl Fabergé was born on May 30, 1846, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. His father, Gustav Fabergé, led the House of Fabergé and turned the company over to his son in 1870. On 1stDibs, find a selection of Fabergé jewelry.