At least Asprey has continuously done more or less the same thing throughout its history, which is more than can be said for another brand making a comeback: Fabergé. Depending on how romantic you are, the name is either associated with the flowering of the decorative arts in the final years of the Romanovs or Brut, an eau de toilette favored by sporting men like British boxer Henry Cooper, who advocated that users "splash it all over." I am only guessing, but I imagine that the new owners would prefer the former—even though Peter Carl Fabergé has been dead 80 or 90 years and the Romanovs ceased trading in 1917, when Russia came under new management.

Olga Berluti, the Parisian bottier de luxe, whose company was acquired by LVMH, once explained to me another important way of looking at heritage: not only should a business survive for generations, but so should its customers. And the tradition of repeat business bequeathed by father to son or mother to daughter is more effective than any amount of heritage-based marketing. Fabergé and the Romanovs were fortunate to come together in the first place; it will be interesting to see if today's superrich and ancient brands repeat the pattern.

© 2008