Set in Memory

Geoffrey Munn
Managing director, Wartski Jewelers, London

"Kenneth Snowman, the late chairman of Wartski, gave a Fabergé brooch to his wife, Sallie, in the 1960s. Recent archival research reveals that it had been an engagement present from Czarevitch Nicholas to Princess Alix of Hesse—the gift of love from a feudal emperor to a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Perhaps because it was a highly sentimental, intimate jewel, the Bolsheviks did not confiscate it until rather late. The Siberian aquamarine held in a trelliswork of diamonds is the conjunction of the various powers of jewelry: It is the expression of natural beauty as valid as a sunset; it is by a top designer; and it has a provenance that is quite unrivaled."

Courtesy Wartski, London