Faberge Egg set to Reclaim Record with $27m Estimate
October 06, 25
(IDEX Online) - A Faberge egg, carved from rock crystal in 1913, is expected to sell for over $27m and reclaim the world record it has twice held before.
The four-inch high Winter Egg is studded with 1,660 diamonds, and reveals a surprise inside of a platinum double-handled trelliswork basket of carved quartz flowers, studded with rose-cut diamonds.
It was an Easter gift from Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, to his mother, and was crafted by Alma Theresia Pihl, one of just two female designers at the House of Faberge.
It will be offered for sale by Christie's London on 2 December as the highlight of The Winter Egg and Important Works by Fabergé from a Princely Collection.
The Winter Egg has already set the world record for a Faberge egg sold at auction on two occasions - selling for $9.1m at Christie's Geneva in 1994, and for $9.6m at Christie's New York in 2002.
Christie's say's the estimate, available on request, is "in excess of £20m" ($26.9m).
The auction record for Fabergé is held by the Rothschild Egg, which sold for $11.9m at Christie's London in 2007.
"The egg is on a rock-crystal base formed as a block of melting ice, applied with rose-cut diamond-set platinum rivulets, centring a platinum pin in the middle to support the egg, and opens to reveal the 'surprise' suspended from a platinum hook," says Christie's.
"This comprises a double-handled trelliswork platinum basket, set throughout with rose-cut diamonds, full of finely carved white quartz wood anemones, each spring flower with gold wire stem and stamens, the centre set with a demantoid garnet, the leaves delicately carved in nephrite, emerging from a bed of gold moss."
A total of 50 Imperial Easter Eggs were produced by the House of Faberge between 1885 and 1916. Of those, 43 eggs are still believed to exist, most now housed in major museums around the world, with only seven (including The Winter Egg) remaining in private hands.
Pic, courtesy Christie's, shows The Winter Egg, with the flower surprise that is hidden inside.