Wartski
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| Limited company | |
| Industry | Jewellers and silversmiths |
| Founded | 1865 |
| Founder | Morris Wartski |
| Headquarters | 14 Grafton Street, W1S 4DE, London, England |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Emanuel Snowman, Nicholas Snowman Geoffrey Munn, Katherine Purcell, Kieran McCarthy |
| Products | Diamonds Jewelry TablewareSilver items |
| Website | Wartski.com |
Wartski is a British family firm of antique dealers specialising in Russian works of art; particularly those by Carl Fabergé, fine jewellery and silver. Founded in North Wales in 1865, the business is now located at 14 Grafton Street in Mayfair, London. The company holds royal appointments as jewellers to the Queen and the Prince of Wales.
The firm was founded in Bangor, North Wales by Morris Wartski in 1865, a refugee from the Tsarist pogroms, who had established, first, a jewellery business on Bangor's High Street, and then a drapery store. His son, Isidore, went on to develop the drapery business and to create a large, fashionable, store. He also developed the Castle Inn on High Street in Bangor, into the high-class Castle Hotel. He was a popular mayor of the city and a patron of local sports and charities. Wartski Fields were bequeathed to the city and people of Bangor by his widow, Winifred Marie, in memory of Isidore Wartski.
Another of Morris's sons went on to develop the jewellery part of the business into an international player. Morris Wartski's two sons, Harry and Charles, went into the business but when Charles was injured in a cycling accident, the business was moved in 1907 to the seaside town of Llandudno for the sake of his health. The Marquess of Anglesey was the best customer and David Lloyd George was engaged as the firm's lawyer. When Charles died in 1914, Harry ran the business with his father Morris and two brothers-in-law S. M. Benjamin and Emanuel Snowman. After the death of Morris Wartski and Benjamin, Harry was joined in the business in Llandudno by his son, Charles Wartski, and a nephew, Cecil Manson. A second jewellery and antique establishment was opened in Mostyn street, Llandudno. So fond of Llandudno was Harry Wartski that when the firm opened a branch in London's New Bond Street in 1911, it was given the name of Wartski of Llandudno. The firm moved via premises in the Quarant Arcade Regent Street and 139 Regent Street to its current location at 14 Grafton Street, Mayfair. The firm's distinctive shop-front on Grafton Street, designed by John Bruckland in 1974, was grade II listed by English Heritage in 2012. It is a rare survival of innovative twentieth century retail architecture in Mayfair.
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Wikipedia