Wilhelm James Bolin

Swedish jeweller, silversmith, goldsmith. Hallmark: W.A. BOLIN. Nephew of Carl Edvard Bolin. Born in the family of Henrik Conrad Bolin and Natalie Rosenstrauch in Moscow (1861). Studied under his father and trained as a jeweller in Paris, London and Amsterdam (1878–88). Inherited the department of jewellery and silverware of Shanks & Bolin, Magasin Anglais in Moscow (1888), but forced to appeal for financial help to Edvard Ludvig and Gustav Oskar Friedrich Bolin in St Petersburg (1888). Worked as a branch of C. E. Bolin during this period of financial dependence on his cousins (1888–1912). Granted independent status on Edvard Ludvig Bolin’s seventieth birthday (1912) and renamed the Moscow branch W. A. Bolin (1912). Opened a branch in Bad Homburg in Germany (1912). Transferred the German stock to neutral Sweden during the First World War (1914–16) and founded a branch in Stockholm (1916). Appointed court jeweller to King Gustav V of Sweden, who opened his branch at Kungsträdgårdsgatan 10 (1916). Suffered the confiscation of his Russian bank accounts worth five million roubles and the nationalisation of his property following the Bolshevik revolution (1918). Borrowed money from Carl Fabergé’s wife Augusta and emigrated to Sweden (1918). Died in Stockholm (1934), where his work was continued by his son Henrik Bolin (from 1934), grandson Hans Bolin (from 1950) and great-grandchildren Anita Bolin Möller and Christian Bolin (from mid-1990s).