Three Sales

SAVOURY SNACK

On 10 December 2025 Adam Partridge Auctioneers from Macclesfield in Cheshire (20 miles south of Manchester) offered a ‘unique and important piece of Fabergé craftsmanship’ in the form of an agate Cockerel with diamond eyes and chased rose gold feet, complete with original fitted holly wood case (Lot 450). Another Fabergé cockerel had recently flown to £200,000 (hammer) at Christie’s London, so Partidge’s £8-12,000 estimate looked mighty enticing. Jeffrey Munn, formerly of Wartski, called it a ‘little gem of a Fabergé’ and thought it ‘ought to fetch a small fortune. There’s no question of its authenticity – and I’m told it’s in perfect condition!’ Faberge carved animals in original cases with impeccable  provenance are in vogue: that ‘small fortune’ could easily have topped £100,000.

Jeffrey was right about the authenticity, and about the small fortune… that the Cockerel would have been worth if it had been in perfect condition. Trouble is, it wasn’t. When I called Partridge to request high-res photos and a Condition Report, I was led to believe the condition was excellent. Alas, the photos contradicted that assertion – revealing multiple chips to the tail feathers, and showing one leg to have been poorly reattached. The poor birdy had clearly been in a skirmish with an animal who thought it looked like a savoury snack. The hammer fell at just £31,000.

ROCKING WITH RÜCKERT

There was a more upbeat story next day at Michaan’s Auctions in Alameda (just across the Bay from San Francisco). Their Winter Fine Sale had anything and everything – you name it – including a magnificent shaded cloisonné enamel/silver-gilt Presentation Cup, 40.5cm (16in) tall, stamped in several places with the Cyrillic initials ФР (FR) for that most sought-after Russian maker: Fedor Rückert (Lot 5145, estimate $30-50,000). The cup and cover were richly decorated with miniature medallions of a scarlet-tunicked Falconer and exotic animals set against a bright floral background. The lid, topped by a double-headed imperial eagle, was ringed by the inscription PRESENTED TO WILLIAM GRISCOM COXE BY H.I.M. NICHOLAS II CZAR OF RUSSIA 1903 (Coxe represented the William Cramps & Sons shipyard of Philadephia, who delivered several vessels to the Russian Navy). The price of $207,900 (premium included) was almost seven times low-estimate.

FEDOR RÜCKERT PRESENTATION CUP (LOT 5145) — MICHAAN’S (ALAMEDA)

Three similar Rückert cups were sold at Sotheby’s New York in the 1970s and ’80s – each gracing the catalogue cover, as if to underscore the importance and rarity of such pieces. All three were 35cm (13½in) tall (i.e. a little smaller than the Michaan’s cup). The first, on 20 May 1976 (at what was still Sothebys Parke Bernet), fetched $14,000 – hammer (Lot 273, est, $9-13,000). The second, on 12 June 1986, sold for $23,100  (Lot 264, est. $15-20,000). The third, on 14 June 1989, sold for $25,000 – hammer (Lot 346, est. $25-30,000). Those prices include a buyer’s premium of just 10%. Happy days! Why do we now pay at least 25% to auction houses, when they were profitable for years by charging only 10%? What happened? Why such a quantum leap? Avarice, perhaps…?

With its falconer miniature and exotic creatures, Michaan’s piece was way more interesting than the trio of cups sold in 20th century New York. No wonder bidding rocketed sky-high.

Another similar Rückert Cup, retailed by Ovchinnikov and again 35cm  (13½in) tall, was offered at Sotheby’s New York on 22 October 2002 (Lot 309; estimate $30,000–40,000) but passed unsold… and resurfaced at Heritage Auctions (Dallas) on 16 December 2024, making a premium-inclusive $150,000 (Lot 82082, est. $100-200,000). That price reflected its prestigious history: it was another gift from Nicholas II, this time as a French Horseracing Trophy, and presented to a Monsieur Pichard, owner of the racewinner Uruguay, at Compiègne (50 miles north of Paris) in 1902. Local daily Le Progrès de l’Oise reported that ‘everyone admired the artistry of the trophy’ – engraved PRIX DE S. M. LE TZAR COMPIÈGNE (OISE) 14 JUILLET 1902 around the base – ‘when it was exhibited in front of the grandstand before the race.’ The cup was with A La Vieille Russie in Paris in the 1950s.

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Such tall cups are not of Russian form but originated in western Europe during the Renaissance, when they were made from silver as a status of wealth, and placed on ceremonial display during banquets. An early example in the Berlin Kunstgewerbemuseum, 55cm (21½in) high, was made in 1538 in Lüneburg, which owed its 16^th century prosperity to salt-mining and was almost as large as Hamburg (30 miles to the north-west).

Its bulbous, lobed design is echoed in the silver and parcel-gilt Standing Cup with Cover, 39cm (15½in) high, made in Moscow in 1748 (mark ГГ) now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, which notes that ‘gourd-shaped standing cups, with the stem in the form of a tree trunk, originated in western Europe in the 16th century and were frequently made in Moscow a century later.’ This particular cup was acquired around 1900 by Henry Walters from Alexander Polovtsov, Chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Society.

The distinctive use of cloisonné enamel gave these cups a distinctively Russian feel in the late 19th century, when they were invariably crowned with a double-headed eagle as finial. Rückert was not their only maker. Take the cup made in Moscow in 1895 (mark АЛ), 30.5cm  (12in) high, sold by Doyle in New York for $28,800 on 23 May 2024 (Lot 612, est. $15-20,000) and catalogued as baluster-shaped, the domed foot and knopped stem, the body and cover with lobed reserves.

These cups also remained popular in Western Europe, witness the one made in Vienna (c.1900) by Hermann Böhm (1842-1928), height 38cm (15in), with a bird of the unwinged female variety as finial. When this was offered by London’s Mayfair Gallery, they drew attention to its ‘historicising Renaissance style that recalls the art and craftsmanship of the 16th century.’ Böhm moved to Vienna from his native Slovakia (then part of Hungary) in 1865, and became the most prolific silversmith/ enameller in the Habsburg Empire – renowned for pieces in the Renaissance Revival style dubbed ‘gorgeous without being barbaric’ by London journal The Jeweller & Metal Worker.

The Rückert cups auctioned in America were all topped by double-headed eagles, suggesting that they were commissioned as imperial gifts. Perhaps Nicholas II liked the design. Or was their popularity at his court down to his wife, Empress Alexandra, given that such cups originated in her native Germany in the 16 th century?

DON’T OGLE THIS PAIR

According to liveauctioneers.com, the Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery in Atlanta (Georgia) are a ‘top-rated outfit.’ I’d like to think so, but they could be risking a down-grade on 15 January 2026 – when they’re set to offer two shoddy items of puported Fabergé: a silver-rimmed ‘moss agate charka’ (Lot 546) and a ‘gold-mounted nephrite dish’ ascribed to Mikhail Perkhin (Lot 547), with dog figurines at either end (gold standard 56). They’re both fakes: each piece is so ugly and clumsy that further comment is superfluous. It’s a shame that Ahlers & Ogletree didn’t bother to seek reliable opinion from experts in the field instead of barging into territory that is clearly not their shtick.

Lots of small auctions and dealers around the world peddle ‘Fabergé’ items that, in reality, are nefarious forgeries. My advice to potential collectors: rather than relying on ignorant or unscrupulous purveyors, consult an expert before dishing out thousands of pounds or dollars!