Faberge: A Life Of Its Own (2017)

Originally released in 2015, the documentary Faberge: A Life Of Its Own, has had some work done to show the world’s most valuable Easter egg: Faberge’s Winter Egg of 1913 and will subsequently be released on VOD, DVD and Blu-ray on the 10^th April 2017.

One hundred years after the original House of Fabergé was forcibly closed by Bolshevik revolutionaries in St Petersburg, Fabergé: A Life of its Own charts the rich history behind the iconic company, from the unstoppable rise of ‘artist jeweller’ Peter Carl Fabergé in 19th century Imperial Russia to the enduring legacy of Fabergé today.

The documentary features Fabergé pieces from collections including the queen in London, Prince Albert in Monaco, and many more of the world’s great collectors. The film also includes interviews with Tatiana and Sarah Fabergé, and a distinguished group of international museum curators, independent art experts and historians.

The documentary is written and directed by Patrick Mark (The Supercar Story, The Last Man on the Moon) and a wonderful job he has done. The shots of the Faberge pieces are very well done, they are framed wonderfully and pop and zing on the screen.

It makes fascinating viewing, Mark has obviously taken a lot of time in his research, and we see Faberge from the original cheaper stuff to the very high end. Most of Faberge’s stuff was gifted from Kings and Princes around the world to whomever Kings and Princes give presents to. And of course, we see the eggs, from the very first to the Winter Egg.

I’m not particularly a fan of Faberge myself, I find it a little too gaudy for me, but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the documentary. It’s very interesting to see how Carl Faberge started out, and Mark’s use of little, beautifully drawn, pictures to represent various people is a nice touch.

I had never appreciated just how large some of these eggs are and also how intricate they are, and that’s true of most of Faberge’s pieces. By 1917 it’s estimated they’d produced some 200,000 pieces but only 15 imperial-eggs, which shows you how rare they are.

It’s fascinating to see when Lenin turns up in Russia, he decides the country needs to sell-off things like artwork and so some Faberge items where purchased for less than a few dollars. I guess, when your country is struggling to eat, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have lots of expensive pieces of art.

The Faberge of the 80’s and 90’s, the one that brought you Brut for example, isn’t actually Faberge at all. That’s all to do with a Russian ex-pat who sets up the company in 1937, the original Faberge family sue, he settles for $25,000 and 12 years later he sells the company for $26 million.

More recently, a group of investors have bought all the rights to the name and are bringing it back as a luxury jewellery maker, with the help of some of the original Faberge family. Faberge: A Life of its Own, is a fascinating, well put together documentary, if nothing else, you can dream of having purchased something when Lenin was around and how much it would be worth now!