The Fabergé Egg

11 April 2017

At Easter, it is customary to give delicious chocolate eggs. Imagine how excited the wife of Tsar Alexander III of Russia was when on Easter 1885 she received a small white enamelled egg with a golden yolk containing a miniature of the imperial crown, embellished by an egg-shaped ruby.

Peter Carl Fabergé was the mastermind behind this magical egg, and in that same year, he was appointed “goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown”.

This led to the production of the famous Fabergé Eggs, created between 1885 and 1917 using precious materials, enamels and precious stones.

Each egg took a year to make, involving a team of highly skilled craftsmen, who worked on the project and the creation. The themes and aspects of the eggs varied as did the mysterious surprises inside.

Today, the Fabergé Eggs can be admired in the Kremlin Armory in Moscow, other small collections are exhibited in other museums around the world. Four eggs belong to a private collection, while another seven eggs are still missing.

Who knows if some lucky woman will receive one of the missing precious eggs this Easter…