Morris Wartski
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Wartski is a British family firm of antique dealers specialising in
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
n works of art; particularly those by
Carl Fabergé Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...
, fine jewellery and silver. Founded in North Wales in 1865, the business is located at 60 St James's Street, London, SW1. The company holds royal appointments as jewellers to
Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
,
Queen Camilla Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. Camilla was raised in East ...
and the late Queen Elizabeth II.


History

The firm was founded in Bangor, North Wales in 1865 by Morris Wartski, a
Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...
immigrant from the town of
Turek Turek is a town in central Poland with 31,282 inhabitants . It is the capital of Turek County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. It is located in the Sieradz Land. History Turek is first mentioned in the historical record 1136, when it was lis ...
, in central
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. Wartski first established a jewellery business on Bangor's High Street and then a drapery store. His son, Isidore, went on to develop the drapery business and create a large, fashionable, store. He also developed the Castle Inn on High Street in Bangor, into the high-class Castle Hotel. He was a popular mayor of the city and a patron of local sports and charities. Wartski Fields were bequeathed to the city and people of Bangor by his widow, Winifred Marie, in memory of Isidore Wartski. Another of Morris's sons went on to develop the jewellery part of the business into an international player. Morris Wartski's two sons, Harry and Charles, went into the business but when Charles was injured in a cycling accident, the business was moved in 1907 to the seaside town of
Llandudno Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 UK census, the community â ...
for the sake of his health. The
Marquess of Anglesey Marquess of Anglesey is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, a hero of the Battle of Waterloo, second in command to the Duke of Wellington. The Marquess holds the subsidiary ...
was the best customer and
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...
was engaged as the firm's lawyer. When Charles died in 1914, Harry ran the business with his father Morris and two brothers-in-law S. M. Benjamin and
Emanuel Snowman Emanuel Snowman OBE MVO (25 January 1886 – 27 February 1970) was a British jeweller, local politician and Jewish community leader. He oversaw the opening of the London branch of the Llandudno jewellers Wartski, having married the daughter ...
. After the death of Morris Wartski and Benjamin, Harry was joined in the business in Llandudno by his son, Charles Wartski, and a nephew, Cecil Manson. A second jewellery and antique establishment were opened on Mostyn Street, Llandudno. So fond of Llandudno was Harry Wartski that when the firm opened a branch in London's New Bond Street in 1911, it was given the name Wartski of Llandudno. The firm moved via premises in the Quadrant Arcade, Regent Street, 139 Regent Street and 14 Grafton Street,
Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...
. The firm's distinctive shop front on Grafton Street, designed by
John Bruckland John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...
in 1974, was
Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
by
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
in 2012. It is a rare survival of innovative twentieth-century retail architecture in Mayfair. In 2018 Wartski moved to larger premises at 60 St. James Street, London, the concrete-lined interior was designed by the architects Waldo Works. With the
Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
, many of the aristocracies took with them large quantities of jewellery made by Carl Fabergé, jeweller to the Tsar. The pieces found their way into shops all over Europe. Harry Wartski painstakingly tracked them down and bought them for his shop. He and Snowman also bought some pieces from the Soviet government, whose collection attracted Royal patronage to the firm. Emanuel Snowman travelled to the Soviet Union from 1925 onwards to negotiate the purchase of former House of Romanov, Romanov jewels and ''objets d'art'' from the ''Antiquariat'', a commissariat established by the Bolsheviks to raise foreign currency. When King Farouk was deposed, Kenneth Snowman (Emmanuel Snowman's son) went to Cairo to buy up some of the Egyptian crown jewels which also included many Fabergé pieces. Kenneth Snowman, (Abraham) Kenneth Snowman (1919–2002), ran the London shop and wrote standard works, ''The Art of Carl Fabergé'' (1953), followed by ''Carl Fabergé: Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia'' and ''Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe'' (1966), written at the urging of Sacheverell Sitwell. As a curator, Snowman organised the exhibitions of Fabergé at the Victoria and Albert Museum (1977) and at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York (1983). He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Society of Antiquaries in 1994 and appointed CBE for his services to the arts and to charitable institutions in 1997.


Present-day

The firm remains in the Wartski family, it is owned by Hector Snowman, son of Nicholas, grandson of Kenneth and great-great-grandson of Morris Wartski. Katherine Purcell and Kieran McCarthy are joint managing directors of the company. Katherine Purcell is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Chairman of the Society of Jewellery Historians and a Liveryman of the Goldsmiths’ Company. Her speciality is French nineteenth-century jewellery and she has written articles on various subjects including the Parisian firm of jewellers Falize, the master of Art Nouveau René Lalique, and on the influence of Japanese works of art on Western jewellery and goldsmiths’ work. She authored the definitive study ''Falize: A Dynasty of Jewellers'' (1999) and translated into English Henri Vever’s ''French Jewellery of the Nineteenth Century'' (2001). Amongst the exhibitions she has curated for Wartski are ‘Fabergé and the Russian Jewellers’ (2006), ‘Japonisme: From Falize to Fabergé’ (2011) and ‘Fabergé – A Private Collection’ (2012). Kieran McCarthy is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Fellow of the Gemmological Association. He is a member of the advisory board of the Fabergé Museum in St Petersburg. In 2014, he revealed the existence of the lost Third Imperial Egg, Third Imperial Fabergé Easter Egg and exhibited it for the first time in 112 years. Kieran has published widely and authored ''Fabergé in London'' (2017), an in-depth study of Fabergé’s London branch and its customers. His research led to him curating 'Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution', the sell-out exhibition devoted to the subject at the Victoria and Albert Museum, November 2021 to May 2022. Thomas Holman is the other director working at the firm. Geoffrey Munn was a previous managing director. In 2011, Wartski made the ring for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. The ring was fashioned from a piece of Welsh gold given to Prince William by Queen Elizabeth II. Previously in 2005, Wartski made the wedding rings for the Wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. Wartski were the sole sponsor of 'Bejewelled Treasures', an exhibition of Indian and Indian-influenced jewellery from The House of Thani, Al Thani Collection staged at the Victoria and Albert Museum from November 2015 to March 2016. In July 2018 Wartski sponsored the book ''Designers & Jewellery 1850–1940: Jewellery & Metalwork from the Fitzwilliam Museum'' by Helen Ritchie which accompanied an exhibition of the same name held at the Museum. An exhibition of engraved gems entitled ‘Multum in Parvo’ (a Latin motto which translates as 'much in little'), was staged at Wartski in October 2019. Curated by Thomas Homan, it included works by the most notable gem engravers of the 18th and 19th centuries and several gems from the fabled collection of George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough and Classical antiquity. A collector queued day and night outside the shop over the weekend before it opened in order to be the first to view the show.


References


External links

* {{Coord, 51.51028, N, 0.14294, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Antiques British royal warrant holders Jewellery industry in the United Kingdom Bangor, Gwynedd Shops in London Retail companies established in 1865 Companies based in the City of Westminster 1865 establishments in Wales