A discussion of Faberge in the post-Revolutionary period should recognise that for many collectors of the time, Faberge was but one of their interests. In reviewing the transactions and the major American collections of the period, it is clear that other items, especially precious icons and religious artifacts, commanded prices in excess of all but the most important pieces of Faberge. Many icons were sold at prices ranging as high at $7500 for an elaborate silver and enamel triptych, and $4500 for a gilded silver and enamel icon of the Madonna with a pearl robe (both late nineteenth century, but neither by Faberge), although the more usual seventeenth-century icons frequently sold for less than $100. The reason was that the later icons were more easily associated with the late Imperial Family than the earlier ones, and shared the appeal of the Imperial eggs.

Three major American collectors of the 1930s - Lillian Thomas Pratt, Marjorie Merriweather Post, and India Early Minshall - not only acquired Faberge objects but also pursued other areas of Russian art. The Pratt Collection, now in The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, includes many icons. The Post Collection, now in the Hillwood Museum in Washington, D.C., possesses an enormous range of Russian material and is especially rich in icons and chalices. And the Minshall Collection, -whose Faberge is now in The Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, also comprised a rich assortment of Russian historical objects given to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. All three, therefore, -were not simply collectors of Faberge. They were fascinated, as were many others, by the tragedy of recent Tsarist history, and the icons and other memorabilia, including the Easter eggs from Imperial palaces and aristocratic estates, were tangible links to a storied past.

It took time before the Imperial eggs would reach their full value, as the $850 received in 1933 for the twelve-panel egg proved. Christie's sale of 16 March 1934 in London offered further evidence of this. Included in that dispersal of eighty-seven objets d'art by Faberge, which presumably had been recently purchased in the Soviet Union, were two Imperial Easter eggs now in The FORBES Magazine Collection: the First Imperial egg and the Resurrection egg. Despite a glowing introduction to the catalogue by Henry Bainbridge, the first egg sold for ?85 ($425) and the second for ?110 ($550), but even more remarkable was lot 80, a jewelled, gold wine taster set with a pretty, but not valuable, sapphire of about three carats, which sold for ?58 ($290), more than half the price of either of the eggs. It is immaterial that this kovsh was misattributed to Alfred Thielemann, rather than to the Tillander firm, as the quality is equal to that of Faberge. The point is that when it reappeared at sale in 1991 (Sotheby's, Geneva, 16 May 1991, lot 246), the taster set fetched SF 8800 ($5800), not one half the price of an Imperial egg, but less than 1 percent of the recent sale of the Love Trophy egg, which sold for $3,190,000 at Sotheby's, New York, on 10 June 1992!
It was not necessary to wait until the 1990s to witness the change in perception that led to a reappraisal of Faberge's best pieces - that -was already noticeable in the late 1930s. A decade and an ocean made a significant difference. In 1928, after seven years, A La Vieille Russie, Paris, was finally able to sell a collection of seven eggs made for Barbara Kelch and Ernanuel Nobel for FF 280,000, or about $1500 each. (The collection included the Pine Cone egg, which would sell in 1989 for SF 5,280,000 [$3,140,000].) In the early 1930s, the twelve-panel egg was purchased for $850, and the First Imperial egg and the Resurrection egg were sold for $425 and $550, respectively. Only a few years later, in the late 1930s, reflecting the extraordinary interest and awareness of the public in America (still home to the most avid of Faberge collectors), prices would rise to ten to twenty times what they had been in Europe earlier in the decade.

Through the 1930s and early 1940s, the Hammer Galleries published a series of loose-leaf mail order catalogues which recorded the asking prices for all sorts of Russian art. In 1938, for instance, the Swan egg (which was sold to King Farouk and then purchased by A La Vieille Russie for EE6400 ($16,200) at the Egyptian Government sale in 1954, and resold to Dr Maurice Sandoz of Switzerland) was advertised for $25,000. In 1939, the Hammer Galleries offered the Rock Crystal egg with revolving miniatures (The Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts) for $55,000, and in 1940, the Caucasus egg for $35,000 (Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation Collection, New Orleans Museum of Art). It seems unlikely that they were paid as much as they asked, at least at the time the objects were advertised. The prices realised appear to have been much lower, as the Catherine the Great Easter egg (Hillwood Museum; cat. 9) was apparently offered for $18,500 and sold for somewhat over $10,000 around 1936. And the Peter the Great egg (The Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection, The

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts), which had been purchased in the late 1930s by Alexander Schaffer, was something he never wanted to sell, his wife Ray recalls. To discourage Mrs Pratt, he revealed to her his cost and quoted her ten times what he had paid. (That amount was $1500, for which he earned the derision of his English colleagues for paying so much for what was only second-hand merchandise.) In the end, dealer and collector came to an agreement. Being a true collector, Mrs Pratt stretched her purse a little and paid for the egg in monthly installments. Events clearly proved her right, and The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts the richer.

Needless to say, $10,000 was a significant increase over earlier prices and underscored the artistic and historical merit of these pieces. Although business in less-expensive items proceeded more or less normally given the upheavals of the time, no major transactions seem to have been recorded during World War II. On 10 July 1947, however, the Orange Tree egg (The forbes Magazine Collection) was offered for sale by Sotheby's in London (lot 53, selling price of ?1650 [$6600].) It eventually found its way into the collection of Dr Sandoz, from which, together with the Chanticleer egg, it was purchased by A La Vieille Russie some years later. Together with the Renaissance egg of 1894, they languished in Schaffer's collection for some time with more praises than purchases, but eventually, through different routes, all found a home in The FORBES Magazine Collection.

At first the late Malcolm Forbes only wanted to collect Easter eggs, and he had to be persuaded to venture beyond them. The result is the most important collection in the world now in private hands. American collecting has evolved from the casual buyer at the beginning of the century, followed by the 'amateur' of Russian items in general in the 1920s and 1930s, to the specialising collector we know in the second half of this century. As to the future of Faberge in America, perhaps the best summary was made by Malcolm Forbes himself in his 'Fact and Comments' column in the 15 April 1973 edition of Forbes magazine. In considering new additions to his collection, Forbes confessed, 'l BUY THE WISDOM even if we didn't buy all the objets of it. Over the years, Forbes has accumulated a fabulous Faberge collection. Recently we were discussing a couple of potential additions with Mrs. Alexander Schaffer of A La Vieille Russie, the prime house of Faberge in this country. "When these were available to us once before several years ago, the price was about half what is now being asked. Now I wish we could have afforded them then." Said Mrs. Schaffer: "If you hadn't bought IBM when it was $50 a share, would you have refused to buy it when it was $100 a share?"' Sadly, Malcolm Forbes is no longer with us, but his wisdom remains.