Time is running out – The last Fabergé type green Siberian jade boulder?

The workshops of Carl Farbegé in St. Petersburg, located in the Greater Morskoy Avenue, did produce, from 1870 until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918, numerous objets d’art in beautiful emerald green Siberian jade.

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Eternal Calendar in green nephrite with diamonds, pearls and enamel manufactured, before 1899, in the Fabergé workshops under the supervision of Michael Perchin.

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The Faberge workshops in St.Peterburg during the last years before the Revolution

The green nephrite jade came from the Sayan Mountains about 150Km east of Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal in what is now the Autonomous Republic of Buratia in Russia.

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The Sayan Mountain area with the Bortogol site

The area is still mined today although the best material becomes very rare indeed. Looking for suppliers of Russian white Vitim jade I came across the company Minerasia S.pA. in Treviglio (near Milano/Italy – [email removed]) ). Its owner, Mr. Claudio Cerasi, did inform me that beside the material I was looking for, he had also an exceptional boulder, weighting 1163Kg, of the beautiful emerald green jade which Fabergè was using for his most precious carvings and jewelry works.

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The top grade "Fabergé" green jade from Bortogol

The material comes from the now exhausted Bortogol River mine in the Sayan’s and is available for inspection and purchase in Italy. He would like to sell the huge piece as a single lot with an asking price of about 100 EURO per Kg.

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The "last"  Fabergé green Bortogol  jade boulder?

 This is indeed a steep price but this green jade is the last of its kind and really beautiful and linked directly to the Fabergé objects d’art. I hope that his marketing plans are successful and he will find a jade lover willing to take up the entire boulder.

Next to the Bortogol boulder Mr. Cerasi has also two further green jade boulders (about 1000 and 2000Kg) from the nearby Gorlykgol River mine. This very compact material is slightly darker and has a more subdued green color. Similar material was also utilized in the St.Petersburg workshops. Image not preserved  Image not preserved
The Gorlykgol green jade boulders

For those which appreciate white nephrite jade, Mr. Cerasi sells also diverse pieces from the Vitim area with one cut-in-two river boulder showing the typical “Khotan/Yurungkash” reddish skin so much sought after by the Chinese jade carvers.

I include the pictures of these jade roughs for your enjoyment and, in the case that you need such special material for your carving projects, ask you to contact Mr. Cerasi directly. The material is already in Italy and thus not submitted to the uncertain Russian export regulations.  Image not preserved  Image not preserved
The white nephrite river jade from the Vitim area with the russet skin