NEW YORK, NY.- Rare Fabergé animals and jeweled Russian Imperial gifts are some of the highlights of an exhibition by the prominent Fifth Avenue jeweler and antique dealer, A La Vieille Russie (ALVR), to be held at The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) in Maastricht (March 14-23).

Art works will include Fabergé silver and hardstone animal sculptures, an enameled snuffbox given to the Imperial family doctor by Czar Nicholas II on occasion of the birth of his daughter, and also a bonbonniere once owned by the powerful London banker, Leopold de Rothschild.

"We wish to show the substance, design, quality, and beauty of jeweled items from earlier eras, and we will have a strong selection of Fabergé and Imperial jewels," said Mark Schaffer, a partner in ALVR. "There will be a wide range of jeweled animals – rabbits, horses, dragonflies, crabs, elephants, turtles, monkeys, dogs, fish, and etc.; we have an entire wearable menagerie of antique animal jewelry, and a fantastic collection of Fabergé hardstone and silver animals with excellent provenance."

Other significant jewels will include a 1920s diadem made by French jeweler Chaumet, and a spectacular 19th century Russian tremblant diamond peony brooch.

The hardstone Fabergé circus elephants include a 6.5cm tall jasper elephant with rose diamond eyes (c. 1900) that was once owned by HRH Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, son of King George V and Queen Mary. There is also a 10cm tall silver stamp moistener (c. 1895) in the form of an elephant standing on its head and forelegs, hind legs up in the air, and the tail serving as the moistener.

Among the Imperial presentation pieces is an enamel snuffbox by jeweler Karl Hahn given by Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra to the family doctor who delivered the their eldest daughter, Olga, in 1895. The snuffbox has Alexandra’s Imperial cipher in diamonds, with ``1895, Tsarskoe Selo’’ inscribed. ALVR will also offer a Fabergé bonbonniere (1908) purchased by Leopold de Rothschild from Fabergé with articulated clown figures from the famous Italian opera, Pagliacci.