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W.A. Bolin
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The firm now known as W.A. Bolin traces its origins to St. Petersburg in 1796, when the German-born jeweler Andreas Roempler established himself as a diamond master and manufacturing jeweler to the Russian Imperial Court. By 1823 he held the formal title of Official Appraiser to the court, and the foundation for what would become one of the most significant jewelry houses in Northern Europe was in place.
The Bolin family connection began in 1833 when Carl Edvard Bolin arrived from Stockholm to work for Roempler. A year later he married into the family and became a full partner. In 1839 the firm was granted the title of Jewellers to the Imperial Court. Carl Edvard grew the house rapidly, and at the peak of his activity the firm supplied more to the Imperial Court than all other jewelers combined - including, later, Fabergé, which did not receive its court appointment until 1911. Carl Edvard's younger brother Henrik Conrad established a separate Moscow branch in 1852, Shanks and Bolin, on the exclusive Kuznetski Most.
Wilhelm James Bolin, born in Moscow in 1861, trained under his father and studied in Paris, London, and Amsterdam between 1878 and 1888. He took independent control of the Moscow branch in 1912, renaming it W.A. Bolin, and held the title of official supplier to the Imperial Court until the end of 1916. The Russian Revolution ended that chapter: the Bolsheviks seized the firm's stock and account books, and customers were tracked down to have items confiscated. Wilhelm managed to transfer a portion of the stock to Germany during the First World War, then moved to neutral Sweden and founded a branch in Stockholm in 1916. King Gustav V appointed him court jeweler, and the Stockholm shop opened at Kungsträdgårdsgatan 10.
In Stockholm the firm maintained the tradition of high-quality goldsmithing and silver work that had defined it in Russia. It continued to operate as jewelers and silversmiths to the Swedish Crown, a relationship that extends to the present day under King Carl XVI Gustav. Among the more notable recent commissions, Bolin is believed to have made the engagement ring for Crown Princess Victoria, a round brilliant diamond solitaire in white gold presented in 2009.
The firm remains family-owned and operates today from Sturegatan 6 in Stockholm's Östermalm district. On the Nordic auction market, W.A. Bolin silver and jewelry appears regularly at major houses. The 14 items on Auctionist are handled predominantly by Kaplans Auktioner and Bukowskis Stockholm. The highest recorded sale on the platform is a pair of 1958 silver candlesticks at 4,150 SEK, followed by a silver cake server set from 1950-52 at 3,811 SEK. A diamond solitaire ring in 18K white gold reached 3,651 EUR, reflecting the market premium that attaches to signed fine jewelry from the house.