the obsession of collecting fabergé
I’ve always been a collector. Even as a little kid, I was inclined to hold on to everything I had acquired and went to great lengths to keep these “treasures” out of harm’s way. They could be toys, photos, programs and souvenirs from various experiences, etc.
When my wife and I purchased our first home my parents told me to “come and get your stuff,” and so I did. Among the items that were retrieved were baseball cards and comics books. I intended to sell these and began to look into their value and the best way to deaccession them. During the course of my research, I discovered that the baseball cards, in particular, fascinated me. I ended up trading many of my duplicate cards as well as the comic books for Hall of Fame players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb and so on. Eventually, I had amassed so many of them that I felt the need to scale down. I cherry-picked the best of them to keep, and still enjoy taking them out from time to time, looking at the details of their uniforms and reading the statistics printed on the reverse sides.
Another topic that has always fascinated me is the process of photography. During a trip to St. Petersburg, Florida, I had time to visit an art museum that featured an exhibition dedicated to daguerreotypes-the earliest form of photography perfected in 1839 and used until about 1860. The process involves development on to a shiny, silver coated plate. The images are a bit difficult to see at first but then, when the light hits the surface at just the right angle, they explode into view in holographic fashion. The subjects were obligated to sit perfectly still for up to 90 seconds, so the majority of their expressions are rather serious compared to the smiling “say cheese” photos that we are all so accustomed to today. I decided to try to collect some of these photographs, and was successful in purchasing a half dozen or so. With a few exceptions where notes accompany the images, I have no idea who the subjects are. They are contained in fancy leather or thermoplastic cases, and it is fascinating to open them up and tilt them just right until the sitters appear, ghostlike, from the past. Yes, I do realize that this is a bit creepy and certainly not for everyone.
I became acquainted with the world of Fabergé in much the same way. My daughter was a student at the University of Richmond, and when my wife and I were visiting, we decided to spend part of a day at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The museum has one of the finest Fabergé collections in the world, including 5 Imperial Easter Eggs. I was mesmerized in particular by the “Rock Crystal Egg with Revolving Miniatures,” a gift from Emperor Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra in 1896. Upon our return from that trip, I began to explore the possibility of collecting a few objects by Fabergé. At first, I was shocked by the prices. We attended a few auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s but were unable to afford anything. My first acquisition was a Christmas gift from my wife: a wonderful nephrite, gold and enamel circular dish by Henrik Wigström. Since that time, I have been immersed in a world of fellow collectors, art dealers, museum exhibitions and auction houses. It has been an absolutely delightful and enjoyable experience!
