The Romanov dynasty was wiped out in 1918 . . . but what happened to all their stuff? Well, some of it ended up at Heritage Auctions, whose Imperial Fabergé and Russian Works of Art auction on May 17 hopes to move a treasure trove of ikons, furniture pieces, diaries, and gold-encrusted baubles. To discuss the sale—and in particular a Fabergé bonbonnière given to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna—Curious Objects’ host Benjamin Miller welcomes guest Nicholas Nicholson, specialist in Russian works of art at Heritage.
Nicholas Nicholson joined Heritage Auctions in October 2023, but began his career in Christie’s European furniture and decorative arts department before his promotion to Specialist in Russian Works of Art, New York. He later served as Senior Vice-President and Division Head of Furniture and Decorative Arts at Freeman’s, overseeing five specialist departments and performing general appraisal services for each. Nick opened his own advisory and appraisal service in 2008, and as a Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice–compliant appraiser worked with private collectors, estate attorneys, public institutions, and museums around the US. Nicholson serves as Heritage’s senior specialist in Russian works of art, overseeing Russian painting, sculpture, silver, enamels, icons, porcelain, historical and imperial ephemera, and works by the famed court jeweler Carl Fabergé, in which he is a recognized expert. Nicholson’s Russian curatorial experience includes exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Icon Museum and Study Center, the Russian History Museum, and the Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Preserve among others. He has offered works from the collections of Landsell Christie, Jane Englehardt, Rudolf Nureyev, Frank Sinatra, and Malcolm Forbes at auction.
