Art objects, Russian

Abstract The collection documents the formation of the Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection of Fabergé decorative artworks at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Bequeathed to the museum upon her death in 1947, Pratt’s Fabergé collection consistently remains one of the highlights of the museum’s permanent collection. Pratt purchased most of her Fabergé collection from the Schaffer Collection and Hammer Galleries, both of New York City, in the 1930s and 1940s. Comprised of correspondence, invoices, price...

Scope and Contents This series is comprised of correspondence, invoices, price tags, and item descriptions that detail the purchases Pratt made from the Schaffer collection in the 1930s and 1940s. Correspondence between Alexander S. Schaffer, his wife Ray Schaffer, and Pratt discuss sales, payments, display cabinets, family matters, and books and articles he sent to Pratt about Russian history, war, and family matters. After 1944, some of the correspondence, invoices and item descriptions came from A La...

Scope and Contents This series is comprised of invoices, price tags, item descriptions, exhibition labels and correspondence that document the purchases Pratt made from the Hammer Galleries in the 1930s and 1940s. The Lord and Taylor invoices are undated, but the item numbers match up with Hammer Galleries price tags, and the Galleries did present and sell their collection at Lord and Taylor in the early 1930s (probably 1934 based upon letterhead from the item descriptions).Price tags were often...