f - A FABERGÉ GOLD AND ENAMEL COMMEMORATIVE PENDANT, WORKMASTER: ERIK KOLLIN, ST PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1888

oval, the front enamelled en plein with the icon of the Vernicle, the reverse engraved with the crowned cyphers for Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodrovna and a Cyrllic inscription: In memory of our escape, 17th October 1888, within blue borders, the lower rim engraved with the name G.I. Girsh, marked on suspension ring, 56 standard, together with a gold chain necklace and a gold, blue and white enamel cross, the reverse with the words Save and Preserve in Russian, maker's mark M S in Cyrillic

Quantity: 2

PROVENANCE

Christies: Important Silver, Objects of Vertu and Russian Works of Art, New York, 21st April 1998, lot 4

CATALOGUE NOTE

These pendants were commissioned by Tsar Alexander III to commemorate the Imperial Train Crash which took place on 17th October 1888. The Imperial train, travelling at high speed from Sevastopol to Moscow, crashed outside Borki. None of the Imperial Family were hurt but twenty-two passengers were killed and thirty-five were injured. The fact that the Imperial Family escaped unscathed was attributed to the Tsar's great strength preventing the carriage from crushing its occupants.

Similar pieces were sold in Christie's, Geneva on 25th November 1985 and Christie's, New York on 12th November 1987. The latter piece had the names of the Imperial Entourage engraved on the reverse, among them was 'G. Hirsh', (in Russian Girsh), the recipient of this pendant.