Faberge Case

San Francisco collector John Traina owns the world's largest collection of Faberge cigarette cases and related accessories, gathered together here for the first time. He personally attests to the excitement and passion inspired by compiling such a collection, and the intrigue of finding each new case and researching its provenance. Traina's former wife, author Danielle Steel, adds a moving testimony of her life with the collector and his collections, and what the cases symbolize for her. Specially commissioned color photographs reflect the dazzling display of materials used in creating these treasures, such as precious metals and gemstones, a rainbow of enamels, nephrite, wood, glass, crystal, and leather, to name a few. The cases are examined and put in their historical context with provocative, informative essays and commentaries by Geza von Habsburg, noted scholar and Faberge expert, Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, and selected dealers, curators, and collectors in the field. Detailed captions provide the provenance of and interesting facts about each case.