Alexander Nikolajewitsch Ivanov (art collector)

Alexander Nikolajewitsch Ivanov ( Russian Александр Николаевич Иванов , also transcribed Alexander Ivanov ; born October 27, 1962 in Ostrow , Pskov Oblast ) is a Russian entrepreneur and art collector. He is best known as the founder of the Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden , which is considered the first private Russian museum outside of Russia .

Alexander Ivanov has no stakes or business interests, but the value of his collection makes him a billionaire. His Fabergé collection is the world's largest Fabergé jewelry collection with more than 3,000 items. Ivanov also collects fossils of dinosaurs, ancient Greek and Roman art, pre-Columbian gold, old master paintings, impressionist paintings, Orthodox icons. He also owns one of the most beautiful collections of classic cars.

Early life and career

Alexander Ivanov served in the Soviet Navy before graduating from Moscow State University with a law degree. In the late 1980s, when the Soviet Union embarked on the path of capitalism, Alexander Ivanov was one of the first Russian entrepreneurs in the computer trade . He quickly built a successful and lucrative business. With his company profits, Ivanov built a collection of Fabergé eggs and other works of art. Ivanov's largest purchase is the Rothschild Fabergé egg, which was given to her brother's fiancée in 1902 as an engagement gift from Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild . Alexander Ivanov bought it on November 28, 2007 for around 9 million British pounds (approx. 12.5 million euros) at Christie's auction house in London, because the art collector believed that it was the "most beautiful [work] of all time" all Fabergé works.

Alexander Ivanov is also an artist. He has his own form of abstract painting, which uses geometric images with extremely vivid colors, the pigments of which are partly made from very expensive and rare minerals. That is one of the reasons his first painting sold for £ 60,000 at auction in London on December 1, 2010 at Bonhams .

Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden

In May 2009 Iwanow opened the Fabergé Museum in the German spa town of Baden-Baden . In addition to the Rothschild Fabergé egg, there is also a rare silver carafe in the shape of a rabbit, as well as the last Fabergé egg, decorated with gold and diamonds, made from Karelian birch, which was made for Easter 1917. Tsar Nicholas II was deposed before he could give it to his mother. When Ivanov bought the Karelian egg, some experts questioned its authenticity, as the existence of the Karelian egg was not known beforehand. However, Ivanov discovered documents in the Russian State Archives that prove the authenticity of the egg. It has been shown at major international exhibitions and is now accepted by scholars, says Alexander Ivanov.

Ivanov chose Germany for security reasons. He explained his decision to the British newspaper “Independent”: “It is very difficult [in Russia] because of the many administrative hurdles […] You always have to thank someone and you can never feel that your collection is safe: not before the state, not from bandits - from anyone. Of course, in Germany we spend a lot of money on security systems, but at least we know that the state itself won't do anything. "

Alexander Ivanov announced that it had cost around 17 million euros to buy and renovate the museum building, of which 1 million euros was invested in the security system. He decided on Baden-Baden , which is located in the southwest of Germany. The town is "quiet and beautiful, in the middle of Europe, near France and Switzerland, a vacation spot for the rich, and historically it has always been the most popular vacation spot for the Russians," says the art collector local government is also supportive, ”he adds.

During the first twelve months the Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden had made a profit of around 500,000 euros instead of the expected profit of around 1 million euros. A large part of this was probably due to the process with Fabergé Ltd. Just one month before the museum's official opening in 2009, Faberge Ltd, registered in the Cayman Islands and owned by the South African Gilbertson family, initiated a legal dispute over rights to the “Fabergé” brand. During the litigation, the museum was unable to use the name "Fabergé"; that meant no advertising, but also no sign on the door. In 2010 the German court ended the lawsuit in favor of the Fabergé Museum, and the museum immediately started using the name “Fabergé” with full right.
An expansion of the museum is planned for the near future; that means more than 600 square meters of exhibition space for European paintings by the old masters and for pre-Columbian jewelry from Peru. In addition, Ivanov's classic car collection is to be shown on more than 2,000 square meters. It consists of about 50 American and European classic cars, all in very good condition, dating from the late 1890s and 1930s. In addition, the opening of a Fabergé Museum in Dubrovnik is planned.

Individual evidence

1. ^ New auction heroes bring art bonanza to London ( memento of June 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 14, 2015 (English).
2. ↑ http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=49110
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Tycoon Ivanov Vies Faberge, Boosts $ 2 Billion Museum Collection , Bloomberg, accessed March 14, 2015.
4. ↑ auction on Bonhams.com, accessed on 14 March 2015 (English).
5. ↑ ^{a b} Ivanov Reveals $ 1.5 Billion Faberge Surprise for Germany , Bloomberg
6. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/russian-billionaire-feathers-his-faberg233-nest-egg-2155869.html
7. ↑ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aQnwTBzLDamM&refer=home