Fabergé
Jewellery firm in St Petersburg, court supplier and maker of the imperial Easter eggs. The name is now used by a new company.
Gustav Fabergé opened a goldsmith's shop in St Petersburg, and his son Peter Carl Fabergé turned it into a workshop with hundreds of craftsmen. The firm became purveyor to the court, and workmasters such as Mikhail Perkhin and Henrik Wigström led the work.
From 1885 Fabergé made Easter eggs for the imperial family, with surprises inside. The firm also made enamelled objects, hardstone figures and jewellery. After the revolution of 1917 the workshops were nationalised and the family fled.
Fabergé in Cyrillic letters, the workmaster’s initials and Russian standard marks such as 56 or 72 zolotnik.