Faberge The Entrepreneur

(via Lapidary Journal) Si & Ann Frazier writes:

Faberge may have turned his name into pure cachet with the firms imperial Easter Eggs, but he probably didn’t make much money on these unbelievably labor-intensive pieces. His bread-and-butter work was in smaller, simpler, less-expensive objects that were still imaginatively styled and superbly constructed in a catalog published in 1899 (translated by K Snowman 1952, p.139). Faberge gives his policy on quality and pricing, which should interest today’s gem and jewelry wannabes and professional alike.

“……as to the quality of our products, it will be sufficient to acquaint our customers with the following…principles which have always guided us during the many years of our business:

1. It is our strict rule not to supply any goods of poor quality under any circumstances. In other words, every object, be its value no more than one ruble is made solidly and carefully.

2. It has always been our endeavor, and our clients can see this for themselves, to offer to the public the greatest possible number of entirely new forms and designs. Goods which have gone out of fashion will not remain in our shop: once a year they are collected and melted down.

3. We try to produce our goods in such a way that the value of each object purchased from us fully corresponds with the sum paid for it, i.e we sell our goods as cheaply as their careful execution permits.

4. Thanks to our considerable capital resources, we are always able to make and hold at the disposal of our clients a large quantity of the most varied and valuable articles.

5. Under no circumstances do we tolerate the possibility of any objects equal in quality to our own being sold elsewhere at a lower price than that fixed by us, for the reason (that) our own prices are always moderate and correspond to the quality of the stones and the workmanship which went into the production of the article; at the same time, we beg to point out that the goods made of the best quality material will naturally be more expensive than those made of materials of inferior quality.

“The range of models and designs fully correspond to the range of prices. Taking into account both the need of the higher classes of society as well as the interests of the middle class, we provide both the luxury and expensive goods to satisfy the most refined taste as well as the inexpensive goods within the reach of the not so well-to-do.”