The legendary jeweller and maker of bejewelled eggs last week launched its first new collection in 90 years.

Fabergé is most famed for those eggs of course, but their comeback collection, named Les Fabuleuses, steers clear of eggs in favour of more conventional jewellery.

Image by Fabergé

The new collection was launched at Goodwood House in Sussex; each piece is a one-off and the collection includes rings, earrings and brooches which follow naturalist and marine themes featuring flowers, peacocks, shells and sea-horses.

Defying the recession, the new Fabergé jewellery is clearly aimed at the über-wealthy, with prices that start at £24,000 and rise to over £4 million.

The Fabergé family traces its roots back to 17th century northern France but the family fled religious persecution in France towards the end of the 17th century.

Gustav Faberge is thought to have moved to St Petersburg sometime in the 1830s, where he trained as a goldsmith and then opened a basement shop called ‘Fabergé’ in 1842.

The addition of the accent at the end of the name was probably an affectation designed to give the name some extra French sophistication – French being the language of the Russian court and of luxury goods in general.

Gustav’s son, Carl Fabergé, embarked upon a Grand Tour of Europe when he was 18, receiving training as a goldsmith in Germany, France and England, before returning to St Petersburg in 1872 when he was 26. Carl took over the family business in 1882, and his younger brother, a talented designer called Agathon, joined the business at the same time.

Fabergé became known for restoration of artifacts in the Hermitage Museum, and a brilliant replica of a 4th century BC gold bangle from the Scythian Treasure caught the eye of Tsar Alexander III, who ordered that artifacts from the House of Fabergé be displayed in the Hermitage Museum as examples of contemporary Russian craftsmanship.

The Fabergé association with the Tsars went from strength to strength, with Tsar Nicholas commissioning Fabergé to make an Easter egg as a gift for his wife, the Empress Maria Fedorovna, in 1885.

The tradition of making ornate and bejewelled eggs for the Tsars was thus established, and over the years the House of Fabergé completed 54 ‘Imperial Eggs’ for Tsar Nicholas III and Tsar Alexander II as gifts for the Empresses. Of this number, 42 survive to this day.

Of course this was just the sort of aristocratic excess which ended up on the losing side in the revolution, and in 1918 the House of Fabergé was nationalised by the Bolsheviks.

The Fabergé name was caught up in a legal dispute in the mid-20th century, and by this time is was more closely associated with manufacturing perfume than with ornamental eggs or jewellery.

The brand passed through various owners, including Unilever which bought Fabergé in 1989 for more than $1.5bn.

Image by Fabergé

Fabergé Limited is now run by Mark Dunhill, previously President of Alfred Dunhill, and has won the endorsement of Tatiana Fabergé, Carl’s great grand-daughter, who attended last week’s launch.

Fabergé has a boutique in Geneva but the new collection will be marketed online – an unusual approach for high end luxury products.

However, with prices starting at £24,000 Fabergé can afford to employ a couple of dozen sales staff who will fly to any serious potential client (“no timewasters please…”) with items from the collection in order to re-create the experience of the luxury boutique.