Editor’s Note
A piece of Russian imperial history has set a new benchmark in the art market. This article details the record-breaking auction of a platinum and diamond-encrusted Fabergé egg, a sale that underscores the enduring allure and immense value of these legendary objets d’art.
A crystal Fabergé egg laced with platinum snowflakes and encrusted with thousands of tiny rose diamonds sold in London on Tuesday for more than $30 million, an auction record for a creation by the famed Russian jeweler.
The Winter Egg was created in 1913 for Czar Nicholas II of Russia, four years before the Romanov empire collapsed in the Russian Revolution. It was one of 50 Easter eggs that Fabergé is known to have created for the Russian imperial family between 1885 and 1917.
The eggs, with their intricate motifs, enameling and fine jewelry work, came to symbolize the wealth and the extravagance of the Romanovs. And more than a century after their fall, the extraordinary workmanship and scarcity of these eggs still inspire collectors to shell out millions of dollars for a single piece.
The House of Fabergé made the Winter Egg for Nicholas II to present to his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, on Easter in 1913, the 300th year of the Romanov dynasty.
It was designed by Alma Pihl, one of the most celebrated designers at Fabergé. The Winter Egg sits on a pearly base made of crystal rock that looks like a block of melting ice, and holds inside it a small platinum flower basket filled with miniature wood anemones. It was the third most expensive egg Fabergé produced for the Russian royal family, according to Christie’s.