EXCEPTIONNELLE TABATIÈRE EN OR DE LA RUSSIE IMPÉRIALE PAR JOHANN WILHELM KEIBEL, SAINT-PÉTERSBOURG, 1822

Johann Wilhelm Keibel, son of Otto Samuel Keibel, was born on May 30, 1788 in Pasewalka, and died in St. Petersburg on May 25, 1862, five days before his seventy-fourth birthday. He came to the capital of the Russian Empire in 1797 with his father Keibel Otto-Samuel, where he immediately entered a goldsmith and jeweler in a foreign workshop. Otto-Samuel quickly gains wealth, and at the same time the respect of his colleagues in the profession, which only ten years later they elected him as the shop head-alderman (in Anglo-Saxon "Eldorman", that is, senior). Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, the young jeweler was lucky he was recommended to Tsarevna Maria Feodorovna, who, in turn, began to place orders for jewelry making.The unexpected death of his father on April 15, 1809 was a real tragedy for Johann-Wilhelm. Johann Wilhelm, although he came of age, did not manage to get the status of a master and for two years marked the finished things with the stigma of his father. Only in 1812, Johann-Wilhelm Keibel received the status of a jeweler, as well as gold and silversmiths of the St. Petersburg foreign workshop. His father taught him so well that the products made by Keibel Jr. immediately begin to be appreciated as once the work of his father. Keibel Jr. made an excellent career in which the master was helped by a personal acquaintance with the august persons, which began since the time of his father. Johann-Wilhelm Keibel, having inherited his parent′s workshop, which had been housed for a long time in his own house in Gusev Lane, quickly established himself as an excellent specialist, mastering the secrets of working not only with precious stones and gold, but also with silver, and then with platinum. The successful career of Johann Wilhelm Keibel began under Alexander I, but the real star of the jeweler rose under Nicholas I. By that time, the master in law from 1825 to 1828 held an elective position, first as assistant headman, and then head of the shop. On March 31, 1841, for his successful work, he was awarded the title of "Court goldsmith" and permission to place the image of the state coat of arms on signs and products, and in 1859 he received the Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree and the title of hereditary honorary citizen, which passed to his descendants ... Johann-Wilhelm Keibel died on May 25, 1862, his descendants successfully continued the family business, transforming the workshop into a factory that existed back in 1910.Johann Wilhelm Keibel (1788-1862), was considered one of the best jewelers of the Imperial Court. It was Johann Wilhelm Keibel who in 1826 made the small Imperial crown, which Empress Alexandra Feodorovna married to the kingdom, and in 1855 he made the funeral crown of Nicholas I.