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By Madison J. Gray, Associated Press Writer
New York, NY, Friday, January 9, 2004
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NEW YORK - The Forbes family's Faberge collection - 12 eggs and an
assortment of other gems - will be auctioned in the spring and could
fetch up to $90 million, Sotheby's said.
The most valued item, the Coronation Egg, could go for as much as $24
million, the auction house said Thursday.
Malcolm S. Forbes, the former publisher and editor of Forbes
magazine, began collecting the items in the 1960s and continued until
his death in 1990. The collection continued to be displayed in the
Forbes Galleries and in shows worldwide.
The Forbes family said the sale would free them from the upkeep of
the collection and would "allow each of us to pursue our own
individual interests."
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CORONATION EGG 1897
Varicolored gold, platinum, enamel, diamonds, rubies,
rock crystal, velvet lining
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"The family has now decided it is time for us to make this unique
treasure trove available to other collectors, so they may have the
thrill of owning a rare and exquisite work of Faberge," the Forbes
family said in a statement.
Two hundred items will be auctioned April 20-21. The collection
includes nine Imperial eggs, three Kelch eggs and more than 180 other
Faberge pieces, such as jewelry and desk accessories.
The eggs, about 5 inches tall, are intricately designed pieces,
individually crafted with unique designs. The Coronation Egg, for
example, is created from gold-colored guilloche enamel and contains a
replica of the coach Czar Nicholas II's wife rode into Moscow.
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Forbes began his Faberge collection with the 1960 purchase of a gold
cigarette case. He later acquired the Duchess of Marlborough Egg and
then the Imperial Cuckoo Egg.
The Forbes collection of Imperial eggs is the second largest in the
world, after that of the Armory Museum in the Kremlin, which has 10.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has five, other private collectors
have four and the collection of Queen Elizabeth II has three.
Forbes spoke of auctioning the collection in his 1989 book, "More
Than I Dreamed: A Lifetime of Collecting."
"I've often told my children I hope that, if they decide to be done
with one of the collections, they will put it back on the auction
block so that other people can have the same vast fun and excitement
that we did in amassing it," he wrote.
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ROSEBUD EGG 1895
Varicolored gold, enamel, diamonds, velvet lining
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The Forbes family has had a relationship with Sotheby's for decades,
auction house spokeswoman Patty Fox said. "It's only recently they
approached us about auctioning this collection," she said.
On the Net: Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/faberge.
FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY
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