Johan Victor Aarne

Johan Victor Aarne (died 1934) was born in Tampere, Finland and was the son of church sexton Johan Lindström. He completed his appreniceship with Johan Erik Hellsten, a goldsmith in Tampere and became a journeyman in Hameenlinne in 1880. For ten years, between 1880 and 1890 he worked for Fabergé in August Wilhelm Holmström's workshop. In 1890 he returned to Tampere to obtain his title of Master and ran his own workshop there for a year. In 1891 he returned to St. Petersburg, working exclusively for Fabergé until 1904 from his workshop at 58 Demidov Cross-Street/Ekatarinski Canal. His signature was BA. After the turn of the century his workshop employed twenty journeymen and three apprentices. In 1904 Aarne sold his workshop to Hjalmar Armfeld and settled in Vyborg (Viipuri), Finland, running a successful goldsmithing workshop for another thirty years. His signature there was J.V.A. He died in 1934 in Vyborg. His signature is to be found on enameled gold and silver articles.