Harry Woolf Fabergé Auction

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Fabergé Author

‘Harry Woolf’s impeccable taste, discerning vision and quest for perfection led him to establish one of the most iconic collections in private hands, which has been an absolute point of reference for all connoisseurs and lovers of Fabergé from around the world’, commented Alexis de Tiesenhausen, the International Head of Christie’s Russian Art Department. But how did a collection of such outstanding pieces of Fabergé come about?

Sometime in the early 1970s, Woolf visited his 70-year-old father who was watching a pretty poor television programme. ‘I determined then and there to find a suitable hobby so that my mind could be more satisfactorily occupied at a similar age’, he wrote in the Foreword to an exhibition of his Collection at Wartski in May 2012. His instinct told him that the hobby would be collecting as he talked to several London dealers on a range of subjects from carpets to netsuke, but none of their wares sparked a serious interest.

One evening he was dining at his Hampstead home with a friend who dealt in early watches. Woolf’s quest to find a hobby came into their conversation and the friend asked the question, ‘Why not Fabergé?’ As it happened the friend had bought a small silver model of a samovar by Fabergé. Woolf liked the object and when offered it at cost bought it. Until this moment, Fabergé was completely unknown to him, so he went to buy a book and discovered the artist-jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé ran the family business in Russia, the birthplace of his maternal grandparents. Fabergé was nationalised by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and its stock confiscated.

Woolf wanted to meet the book’s author. This was Kenneth Snowman an authority on Fabergé and the chairman of Wartski. The two men got on well. Woolf was shown the company’s Fabergé as was the fictional James Bond in The Property of a Lady, a short story centred around a Fabergé Egg. Sotheby’s commissioned Ian Fleming to write it for its 1963 year book so as to promote antique Fabergé. In the book Fleming describes Bond being ‘dazzled’ by the experience of seeing Wartski’s stock of Fabergé and it would appear that Woolf was too, as he became a passionate collector.

A qualified pharmacist and an outstanding businessman, he certainly had the means to become an important collector of Imperial Fabergé. Although he took advice from Wartski when needed, he was a true collector in the sense that he ‘had the eye’ and knew when a piece was exceptional. Alice Illich, who has an auction house background, knew Harry for over 40 years, first encountering him at the sophisticated Fabergé auctions held bi-annually at the Hotel Richemond in Geneva.

She elaborated, ‘He enjoyed viewing the Russian auctions and would zone in on a particular item which others may not have even appreciated, but in fact was one of the definitive lots. He would always recognize the best in Fabergé.’ His Collection comprises four main groups: hardstone animals, functional works of art; Japonisme inspired and finally Russian styled pieces. However, the Woolf Collection does not feature a Fabergé Imperial Easter Egg.

Collectors always remember the pieces they should have bought, but did not. In Woolf’s case this was the magnificent 1913 Fabergé Imperial Winter Egg. He was offered it privately, but declined. However, he had another opportunity a few months later in November 1994 when it was offered at a Christie’s auction in Geneva. Unfortunately, through an unexpected bidding issue, he missed the moment. A fact that he always regretted.

Ten of Harry Woolf’s pieces of Fabergé are not in the auction as they have been lent to the exhibition Fabergé in London – Romance to Revolution which opens at the Victoria & Albert Museum on 21 November. Indeed, because of the quality, rarity and breadth of the Woolf Collection, pieces from it have featured in almost every one of the many Fabergé exhibitions held around the world since 1975.

The auction is expected to realise a total of £2.15 - £3.15 million. The lots are on view at Christie’s, 9 King Street, London SW1Y 6QT on Thursday and Friday 25^th-26^th November from 9am to 5pm and over the weekend of 27^th-28^th November from noon to 5pm.

LOT 12

A jewelled gold-mounted composite model of a blue tit that is realistically carved. It is composed of various hardstones, including lapis lazuli, yellow chalcedony, bowenite, agate and onyx, with rose-cut diamond-set eyes and finely chased gold feet. Length 2in (5cm). It is apparently unmarked, St Petersburg circa 1900. Estimate £50,000-£70,000.

Image courtesy Christie’s

LOT 21

This rectangular gold and platinum brooch with cut corners is set with diamonds, rubies, topaz, sapphires, demantoids, garnets and emeralds to depict a bouquet of flowers in a mosaic manner to imitate embroidery. The Finish Alma Pihl, who also designed the Fabergé Imperial Mosaic Egg of 1913, which is in the UK’s Royal Collection, also designed this brooch. The design was inspired from watching her mother-in-law engaged in needlework by the fireside. The platinum mesh into which the stones are set was cut by hand. The square small stones had to be calibré-cut so they perfectly fitted the square apertures. The catalogue states that the brooch is the only example of the iconic mosaic design to exist, apart from the Mosaic Egg. This is not the case, as he late Tatiana Fabergé had a similar brooch. Length 1.625in (4.3cm). It is apparently unmarked, but has French import marks, St Petersburg circa 1913. Estimate £70,000-£90,000.

Image courtesy Christie’s

LOT 32

A jewelled and guilloché enamel three-coloured gold photograph frame in the form of an easel. The frame enamelled in oyster white over a sunburst guilloché ground, centring a rose-cut diamond-set aperture, applied with berried laurel branches, all within a laurel chased border, the gold tripod easel surmounted by a rose-gold ribbon, with ivory back. Height 6in (15.2cm). It is marked throughout with KF in Cyrillic; in its original Fabergé wooden case, Moscow 1899-1908. Estimate £80,000-£120,000.

Image courtesy Christie’s

LOT 47

A rare gold-mounted enamel, nephrite and rock crystal study of wild strawberries. Only about 80 of Fabergé’s botanical studies are known to have survived. They are among the most beautiful objects produced by the company. Height 4in (10.2cm). It is apparently unmarked, St Petersburg circa 1900. Estimate £200,000-£300,000.

Image courtesy Christie’s

LOT 51

This is one of Harry Woolf’s favoured items. A silver lemon-gilt cream jug of tapering form, with lobed rim and slightly elongated spout, with a twisted scroll handle, the interior rose gilt. Although made in the late 19^th century this jug looks modern as if anticipating both the stylised curves of Art Nouveau and the geometric forms of the later Art Deco. It is marked on the base with ‘K Fabergé’ in Cyrillic beneath the Imperial Warrant. Height 2.5in (6.4cm). Moscow 1896. Estimate £8000-£12,000.

Image courtesy Christie’s

LOT 58

A silver-mounted sandstone match holder in the form of a bolete mushroom, applied with a cast and chased figure of a frog, with a silver well for the matches, on a reeded circular base. Marked inside the well and under the base with the initials of Anna Ringe. Height 3.875in (9.7cm). St Petersburg 1890. Estimate £30,000-£50,000.

Image courtesy Christie’s

adventurine quartz tray shaped as a pond

LOT 61

This one of a small number of objects in the Collection having a distinctive style inspired by Japanese art. The adventurine quartz tray shaped as a pond, the sides applied with a finely chased silver goose and gander, pulling a nephrite frog set with diamond-set eyes, further decorated with silver water lilies and foliage. Marked on the mounts with ‘Fabergé’ in Cyrillic beneath the Imperial Warrant and the initials of the workmaster Julius
Rappoprt. Length 6.25in (16cm). St Petersburg 1899-1904. Estimate £40,000-£60,000.

Image courtesy Christie’s