Sunday, April 22, 2007

Fabergé thimbles on eBay?

Imperial Russian Silver "Fabergé" thimble.
US$157.50: 9 bids starting at US$20.00.
3 April 2007.
Original listing with Seller's starting bid at US$350.00 went unbid upon.
Imperial Russian Silver "Fabergé" thimble.
US$76.99: 13 bids starting at US$1.01.
18 April 2007.

The listings for these two thimbles claim that they are from the Fabergé Workshop and are "marked КФ, the Carl Fabergé Workshop Control Mark," and "84, the Imperial Mark for solid silver." The "84" indicates that the pieces are 840/1000 silver (Sterling Silver is 925/1000 silver), and would be the mark used in Russia from 1882 until the Revolution in 1917, after which the silver standard was 875/1000.
The seller is located in Bulgaria and stated in the listing for the first (top, right) thimble that it was from a private collection, and owned by the Bulgarian Royal Court until the communist revolution in Bulgaria.
I know pretty much nothing about either Fabergé or their marks. I went to the exhibit of Fabergé at the DeYoung Museum several years ago and the thimbles, particularly the top one with the fox, look kind of like some of the silver I've seen. But the other pictures in the listings show a certain lack of precision in details that I don't think would have passed muster at Fabergé. And I'd think the real deal would always go up at one of the big auction houses like Christie's or Sotheby's. But I don't know enough one way or another to say if these are genuine.

No comments: